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Last season’s first matchup with Harvard was an embarrassment for the Crimson. It might have been the worst thing the Eagles could have done, because it kicked Harvard into gear the rest of the season and spurred the Crimson into victories over the BC in the Beanpot finals and Frozen Four.
There was no such embarrassment this year. Harvard is out of the top ten nationally for the first time since 2012, but the Crimson showed up to play. It took a strong effort from the Eagles and a world class performance from goaltender Katie Burt for BC to come away with a solid 2-0 win at Bright-Landry.
This was the first game in the last several weeks that saw last year’s "superline" of Skarupa-Carpenter-Kent reunited, but Harvard kept them off the scoresheet entirely.
Boston College Goal #1: 11:02 of the 1st period
Meghan Grieves (Tori Sullivan, Toni Ann Miano)
BC 1, Harvard 0
The bottom lines played a tremendous game as Harvard focused on shutting down the top unit. Tori Sullivan and company crash the net on Emerance Maschmeyer, who has played with the Canadian national team in a couple tournaments, and Maschmeyer can’t hold the rebound.
It’s Grieves who gets to the rebound first for the goal. The play would be reviewed for potential goaltender interference (Sullivan might have clipped Maschmeyer on the way by), but the call would stand.
Boston College Goal #2: 18:26 of the 2nd period
Meghan Grieves (Tori Sullivan)
BC 2, Harvard 0 -- FINAL
This is a pretty soft goal for Mashmeyer to give up, but as Cam Atkinson can tell you, those in-close backhands can give goalies a lot of trouble.
That was all of the scoring in the game. Harvard came to play with a ton of energy and physicality, not giving BC much space to work with. It was exactly what you’d expect in a rivalry game.
That kind of game will go a lot further toward preparing BC for the grind of the postseason than a 10-2 drubbing will.
The win was BC’s second ever against the Crimson on the road and the first at since 2006—incredible, considering that the Eagles and Crimson play at least once, and sometimes more than once, every season. Katie Burt set a couple major goaltending records, becoming both the youngest and the fastest goalie in NCAA history to reach 50 career wins. She’s 50-3-2 a year and a half into her career, still only 18 years old, and has allowed 20 goals in 20 starts this season.
Next up for BC is a 2 game home series against Vermont on Friday and Saturday. The Catamounts are a huge disappointment this season, hanging out near the bottom of the conference and national rankings, and should give BC a chance to pad some stats.