GOAL BY GOAL: Carpenter Scores In Overtime To Lead BC Women's Hockey Over BU 4-3

That was much more stressful than it had to be.

Rivalry games, man. It doesn't matter if you dropkicked your rival 8-1 three days earlier on the road, there's just no telling what you're going to get.

What BC Women's Hockey got on Tuesday night was a Terrier team that took it to them to the brink and nearly ended their perfect start. But Alex Carpenter and Haley Skarupa did what the greats do, putting the team on their back in the extra session and earning an overtime 4-3 win for the Eagles.

Boston College Goal #1: 1:10 of the 1st period
Alex Carpenter (Megan Keller, Makenna Newkirk)

BC 1, BU 0

The game started "BC" enough -- the Eagles came out with crisp, creative passing for an early goal that made it look like the game would be a laugher like on Saturday. BC is just setting up a line change, but they get the Terriers all turned around with a give and go from Keller in deep in the BU end.

Carpenter goes to the net after dishing it to Keller and sends the return pass into the gaping net.

Boston College Goal #2: 16:16 of the 1st period
Dana Trivigno (Toni Ann Miano)

BC 2, BU 0

The first period started BC and it stayed BC for almost the entire period. BU didn't manage their second shot until halfway through the period while BC was killing a penalty, and BC kept coming at them after the kill.

Miano just sends the puck to the net with traffic out front, and it's just a matter of an Eagle finding the rebound first. Trivigno beats Victoria Hanson and BC's up 2 going into the intermission.

But whatever BU coach Brian Durocher said to his team during the intermission... they should bottle it and sell it.

Boston University Goal #1 (PPG): 11:30 of the 2nd period
Sarah Steele (Sammy Davis, Rebecca Leslie)

BC 2, BU 1

It took a 5 on 3 for the Terriers to break through, but BU was taking it to BC for the entire period until that point. There's no doubt about it: It clearly rattled BC.

The Eagles' crisp passing of the first period was replaced with misfires and an inability to move the puck. Quick passes would have had a hard-charging Terrier team chasing the puck, but instead BC's disjointed possessions played right into BU's hands.

BU went on a two man advantage and broke through. It was a simple 5 on 3 play, two passes to collapse the defense toward the net and a shot that beat BC's Katie Burt.

But BU kept coming.

Boston University Goal #2: 16:59 of the 2nd period
Maddie Elia (Rebecca Russo)

BC 2, BU 2

You can catch the tail end of that disjointedness on this BU goal. BC can't gather in the puck, let alone make a pass to get out of trouble, and the Terriers won the battle, ended up with a 2 on 1, and converted with the one timer.

That sent the game into the 2nd intermission tied at 2, and the third period was 20 minutes of playoff-type atmosphere.

Boston College Goal #3: 1:20 of the 3rd period
Kristyn Capizzano (Haley Skarupa, Lexi Bender)

BC 3, BU 2

BC deserves a ton of credit, because this seems like the kind of game they would have lost last season. While the second period was characterized by BU sending waves of attack at the Eagles and BC being unable to counter, the third period was instead the Eagles matching the energy of Terriers.

BC regained the lead early in the 3rd with this crash-the-net type goal started by Lexi Bender. She, Skarupa, and Capizzano all come flying in, and Capizzano is able to get a stick on it in the chaos.

Boston University Goal #3: 6:39 of the 3rd period
Rebecca Russo (Rebecca Leslie)

BC 3, BU 3

The Terriers didn't roll over after BC retook the lead early in the third, but instead kept up the energy and were rewarded just a few minutes later with another equalizer.

Katie Burt got taken to school on this goal. Russo comes streaking in to receive the pass from Leslie, and Burt sold out to make the save. But Russo pulled the puck in,  and went backhand with Burt out of position.

Can't miss from there.

BU seemed to run out of gas from there, as BC started to pile up the shots as the game wore on. Like the great start BU had on Saturday, there's only so long BC's opponents can compensate for BC's talent level with effort, and they started to see the effects.

BC had several chances late in regulation, but it was the stars who would shine in overtime to pull out the win.

Boston College Goal #4 (GWG): 2:17 of Overtime
Alex Carpenter (Haley Skarupa)

BC 4, BU 3 (OT) -- FINAL

Skarupa and Carpenter were put on different lines to at least start the season, but in special teams situations, Coach Crowley sends them out together. With 4 on 4 overtime, the Terriers saw a lot of the Skarupa/Carpenter tandem, and it seemed to be only a matter of time before they would be able to find the game winner.

We've said it a couple times this season, but this year's BC team seems to be having opportunities for development that they didn't have last year. In BC's early tie against St. Lawrence last year, and in all three losses at the end of the year, they seemed to get frustrated, start pressing, and just start throwing things at the net without much of a plan.

BC never did have a game like this last season where they were faced with adversity, regrouped, and found their game again. It's critical for the Pairwise that they were able to pull out the win, but it's even more important for the season as a whole that they experienced this kind of pressure and learned how to respond.

Next up for the Eagles is a home and home with UNH. With UNH having another struggle of a season, BC can probably expect things to return to "status quo" dominance over a weak Hockey East team, so it makes Tuesday's tough win over BU all the more important.