Following an unsuccessful series against Vermont last weekend, Boston College women’s hockey opened its single-elimination playoff season in the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal against Maine Friday night.
BC (19–14–1, 16–9–1 Hockey East) and Maine (15–18–1, 12–13–1) matched up for the fourth time this season, with the Eagles having won the previous three. But BC’s Hockey East tournament hopes ended in a 2–1 loss.
The Eagles dominated the first period with consistent possession and puck movement. With just over six minutes remaining in the first frame, Willow Corson scored on assists from Caroline Goffredo and Alexie Guay to give the Eagles a 1–0 lead.
BC goaltender Abigail Levy shut out the Black Bears for most of the period, sprawling along the crease to make saves. But Maine’s Alyssa Wruble recovered an errant breakout pass with 2.1 seconds left in the first to tie the score at 1–1.
“In that first period I thought we were really buzzing—I thought we had a lot of scoring opportunities, and obviously their first goal wasn’t a great one for us,” head coach Katie Crowley said. “Those are things that can’t happen in a playoff game.”
Levy didn’t falter in the second period, though, and continued to save shots against the Black Bears’ persistent offense. Both teams traded possessions throughout the second period, but Maine outshot BC 20–14. Maine capitalized off its first power play of the night, as Taylor Leech drove the puck past Levy with under five minutes remaining in the second period to make the score 2–1.
“She’s been great for us,” Crowley said of Levy. “I mean, to play every game except for I think one for us—that’s a lot of work on one person. She was in some games where she saw a lot of shots. … The battle that she gave us every day, she let us stay in every game, and I think that’s huge for the confidence of a team.”
Maine kept its momentum up in the final frame, but BC fought back, leading in shots 18–12 and faceoff wins 8–7 in the third period. Many of the Eagles’ shots hit the post of Maine goaltender Jordan Mattison’s net, but BC continued to charge against the Black Bears.
“I thought we battled in the third but just didn’t have enough left in the tank,” Crowley said.
Maine countered the Eagles’ pressure through the end of the period to walk away with a 2–1 victory, sending BC packing.
“It’s tough [when] you lose before you want to,” Crowley said. “We’ll get back at it. … We’ve got to flip the page at some point, so we’ll do that here after maybe a little bit of time and start looking to what we have for next year.”
Featured Image by Chris Ticas / Heights Staff
