The No. 5 Boston College women's hockey team (7-1-2) beat the University of Connecticut Huskies (6-4-2) Thursday night, 3-2. With the win, the Eagles improve to 8-11-5 all-time against the Huskies, and move to 4-0-1 in the Hockey East.
After a delay of over an hour and 10 minutes due to the UConn team bus getting caught in traffic, the Eagles wasted no time in getting on the board.
Just 8:50 into the first period, forward Danielle Welch scored a power-play goal from just under the right circle on a pass from forward Allie Thunstrom. The goal was Welch's fifth of the season, and put the Eagles up 1-0.
BC then struck again at the 15:30 mark in the first. Forward Megan Shea took a weak shot from the top of the key that bounced through the five-hole of the UConn goalie. Meghan Fardelmann got the assist on the goal, which put the Eagles up, 2-0, at the end of the first period.
"I felt we started off with a bang," said head coach Katie King after the game. "I felt we played incredibly well in the first period."
BC was able to get on the board first in the second period as well. Forward Kelli Stack poked a rebound in front of the goal under the UConn goalie's pad and into the back of the net. The score came at the 11:48 mark, was assisted by Welch and Thunstrom, and put the Eagles up 3-0. The goal was Stack's ninth of the season and ties her for the overall Division I points lead, with 19 on the season.
The Huskies forced the Eagles to play tight defense from that point on. The Eagles found themselves shorthanded four times in the period, but were only able to successfully kill three of the power plays.
The Huskies goal came at the 12:34 point in the second, when UConn forward Michelle Binning took a pass from Jennifer Chaisson at the top of the key and rifled a shot past BC goalie Molly Schaus. The score narrowed the BC lead to 3-1 at the end of the second period.
"We began to get complacent at the end of the second period, and it carried over to the third," King said. "It's hard to play a game [with a lot of penalties] when you are using the same six or seven kids to kill penalties, because they just start to get tired. They still played hard, however, and we were able to get it done."
Spring Break
