No.15 Northeastern Women’s Hockey (9-6-1, 7-4-1 HE) faced off against the No.11 Boston College Eagles (11-5-0, 8-3-0 HE) Nov. 30. It was their first and only meeting before the two will face off in the first round of the Beanpot Jan. 14.
The Saturday night game ended in a tough loss for the Huskies as Boston College nailed down two goals before Northeastern left an empty net, and the Eagles launched another empty net shot, bringing the final score to 3-0.
Northeastern’s head coach Dave Flint said he hopes the loss will only motivate the team when it comes to the Beanpot semifinal.
“The Beanpot obviously is huge, so we’ll be ready. But the other thing is, I’m okay with the loss the game before the Beanpot,” Flint said. “It gives us a little bit of fire and we’re not just going to walk into this game and win — we’ve got to put in the work.”
The first period finished scoreless. A tripping penalty on junior forward Kara Goulding five minutes in created an opportunity for the Huskies to dominate possession, attempting 25 total shots in the period, while the Eagles lagged in puck time. Boston College got a few close looks in the last few minutes, with 16 total shots by the end of the period. The Huskies were taking great looks at the net, but nothing was converting and as time ticked by, the Eagles narrowed the margin in shot total.
“We came out flying and I feel like as the game went on, we maybe fizzled out a little bit. But I like the way we started,” Flint said.
Freshman goaltender Lisa Jönsson looked strong during the period; she continues to hold the number one save percentage in the country and was able to collect 22 saves in the game. By the end of the game, Northeastern had racked up double the power plays as their opponent but failed to capitalize on any of them.
It was Boston College that took advantage of their opportunities instead. When freshman forward Morgan Jackson was called for slashing during a heated moment, the Eagles dominated play. The team used the 5-4 skater difference to swarm the net, leaving the Huskies scrambling to keep track of the puck. Three seconds after Jackson was released, sophomore forward Julia Pellerin came around the back of the net with the puck and swept it to freshman forward Lauren Glaser across the blue line. Glaser fed it to freshman defender Olivia Maffeo at the net who finished the job, the puck landing on Jönsson’s right side, deep in the net.
For a moment a fire was lit under Northeastern and it seemed likely that the Huskies could come through with their normal third period energy. The momentum was slashed when senior forward Skylar Irving drove into Glaser while the Eagle was skating down center ice. Irving received a minor penalty for interference and the Eagles’ power play was just what Boston College needed to add another tally to the scoreboard.
A minute into their advantage, sophomore forward Sammy Taber skated out of a board lock in the Eagles defensive zone down and past Husky defenders to neatly pass the puck to senior forward Abby Newhook, who fired off a straight shot, creating a 2-0 scoreboard.
“Usually third periods are our strong suit and we ramp it up, and we didn’t,” Flint said. “The first goal, we didn’t pick up in front or redirect. Second one was just a broken play, but I thought [Jönsson] made some nice stops, [Jönsson] had a 0-0 going into the third with a chance to win. We just didn’t capitalize.”
Flint noted the team could be relying too heavily on defense and goalkeeping, while being stuck when it comes to converting.
When the Huskies took out Jönsson in exchange for an extra forward on the ice, Taber scored the Eagles’ third goal of the night. The win was a large accomplishment for the Eagles, the team reaching two major milestones on Nov. 30: Boston College’s head coach Katie Crowley received her 400th win and captain Newhook scored her 100th career point.
The Huskies will be on the road for their last game of 2024 to face off against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (10-6-1, 6-5-0 HE) Dec. 4.
Flint is hoping the team can bounce back quickly for the game. “We’ve just got to hit the reset button and we’re going to find a way to put pucks in the net and get to those dirty areas,” he said. “We lost to UNH 2-0 [at Matthews Arena] not too long ago, so we’ll remember that. We just need to be focused on that.”
