GOAL BY GOAL: BC Women's Hockey Is Going To The Championship After 3-2 Overtime Win Over Clarkson

It took just 58 seconds.

All season, the few times the Eagles have been challenged, they've risen to the occasion. Friday afternoon against the Clarkson Golden Knights, Boston College faced adversity beyond what they've seen all year, falling behind 2-0 deep into the 2nd period, its first two goal deficit of the season.

But somehow, someway, despite Clarkson playing a nearly perfect game for 61 minutes, the Eagles scratched and clawed all the way back to tie the game late and win 3-2 in overtime in a close, heart-stopping matchup.

Clarkson Goal #1: 2:27 of the 1st period
Rhyen McGill (Geneviève Bannon, Savannah Harmon)

CU 1, BC 0

As we said in our Q&A with Title IX Hockey, there were going to be two keys to the game for Clarkson to pull out a win: They were going to have to score early, and they were going to have to keep BC frustrated. That is exactly what happened on Friday.

BC came out very mechanical and very tentative with almost no fluidity to their game at all, and Clarkson immediately jumped on the Eagles. Bannon goes coast to coast from her own end and threads a really nice pass through two BC skaters.

Unfortunately the second BC defender gets turned around and McGill has some room to do some stickwork and life the puck over Katie Burt for the nice goal.

It was the first time all season that BC trailed going into the first intermission.

Clarkson Goal #2: 5:29 of the 2nd period
Cayley Mercer (Kelly Mariani)

CU 2, BC 0

Early in the second period, Clarkson had another BC first -- the first two goal deficit of the season for the Eagles.

Another really nice goal for Clarkson. BC's attempting to clear the zone but Tori Sullivan lost the puck off her stick leading to a Golden Knight turnover.

Sullivan and Megan Keller make the mistake of both shadowing the puck carrier across the blue line and it allows Mercer to skate in with room to work toward the net. She fires a wicked shot right over the shoulder of Katie Burt, and with that, the Eagles have put themselves in a world of trouble.

Boston College Goal #1: 14:32 of the 2nd period

Haley Skarupa (Alex Carpenter, Lexi Bender)

CU 2, BC 1

Clarkson did not just collapse into a defensive shell from there. They are one of the best all-around teams in the country -- 5th in defense and 6th in offense coming into the game -- and BC still found themselves in a startlingly even game with time winding down on the second period.

BC finally found some life thanks to a scramble in front of Clarkson's Shea Tiley. The Eagles finally got a couple of chances on net for the first time in a little while and caught the Golden Knights running around a bit.

Alex Carpenter takes a brutal cross check in the back to earn the delayed penalty call -- reminiscent of one last year on another Skarupa goal against Clarkson -- as Skarupa comes in to pick up the rebound.

Tiley is down on the wrong post partially because Carpenter was checked into her, leaving an open net for Skarupa to shoot at.

That put the Eagles in position to tie the game with a goal in the third period, but as the clock wound down to 15 minutes, 10 minutes, and 5 minutes... it looked like this might just be where the ride ended for BC.

Finally, after Clarkson finally started to tighten up and feel the pressure of a late lead, the Eagles finally put together a slew of great chances -- which were all saved by Tiley -- before finding a miracle.

Boston College Goal #2: 16:07 of the 3rd period
Kaliya Johnson (Megan Keller, Alex Carpenter)

BC 2, CU 2

And a miracle it certainly was. After Tiley stood on her head for a good couple minutes just prior to this goal, she let in this incredibly soft goal that sent the BC bench into a wild celebration.

WIth less than four minutes to go and the Eagles buzzing, Megan Keller went into the boards in a hard battle for the puck that makes the whole play happen. She wins the battle not once, but twice off the boards before circling and flinging the puck out front in the hopes of finding a white jersey.

She did, sort of, after the puck bounced off a Clarkson skater's stick and into the reach of Kaliya Johnson. Johnson snapped a desperation shot in on net (before sprinting back to her point to play defense) that she didn't get nearly all of. The puck slid slowly through the slot, through a Clarkson defender, and past the right skate of Shea Tiley, who had not held the post on the chance.

The puck slipped just inside the post, and BC was alive again.

Boston College Goal #3 (GWG): 0:58 of Overtime
Haley Skarupa (Alex Carpenter, Kenzie Kent)

BC 3, CU 2 (OT) -- FINAL

Once the game went to overtime, the Eagles completed the comeback in short order. It was BC's superline at it again, with Carpenter and Skarupa -- of course -- doing the honors.

As Kent dropped the puck down to Carpenter, Skarupa's 6th sense for her linemate sent her back across the slot while Clarkson, for the first time all game, got caught watching.

Skarupa is now all alone at the hash marks, and Carpenter has a passing lane. She sends it across to Skarupa, and... #HistoryWillBeMade.

The game was as stressful as they come. BC was largely outplayed for big chunks of the game, a first all season. It was partially due to BC's lack of fluidity and, frankly, what appeared to be nerves and possibly a hint of looking ahead. But more than either of those things, it was due to Clarkson coming out and believing they belonged on the same ice as the #1 ranked and undefeated Eagles.

No doubt about it, they proved that they did.

And now -- can you believe it? Boston College Women's Hockey is playing for a national championship on Sunday afternoon. After their own overtime win against the Badgers Friday night, their opponent is none other than the titan of women's hockey, the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

But of course, it couldn't happen any other way.