With just under 14 minutes left in the first period, No. 13 Boston College women’s hockey was still looking for its first goal to tie Merrimack 1–1.
Molly Jordan proved to be the kickstarter the Eagles needed. Jordan’s goal 6:34 into the first period would not only mark her first goal of the night, but her first career goal for the Eagles. She did not stop there, and went on to record two goals and two assists on the night.
“Obviously, it’s special to get my first goal, but I think it’s not possible without a great team behind my back, so they’re all super supportive and happy for me, but I was happy for the team,” Jordan said.
Alongside Jordan’s goals, the Eagles (13–7–4, 12–3–3 Hockey East) produced offensive success throughout the game and defeated the Warriors (7–14–2, 4–10–2) 6–4 on Friday night. Jordan’s goal ignited BC’s offense in what seemed to be an early back-and-forth game, only for BC to seize control of the puck in the third period.
Despite coming into the game with eight points, all of which were assists, Jordan delivered for the Eagles when they needed her most.
“After Molly’s first goal, we were just celebrating really hard in the corner and going down the line, which was special,” Julia Pellerin said. “We knew after that first goal that it was gonna be a good game from there on out, and we were gonna get some offensive chances.”
Two minutes after BC scored its first goal, Merrimack responded by scoring on a power play following a hooking call against Sammy Taber. After the first 20 minutes of play, the Warriors maintained a 2–1 lead over the Eagles.
It wasn’t until the second period when BC’s offense would be able to tie it up again. Seventeen seconds into the second frame, Kate Ham rifled a shot that sailed past Warrior goaltender Calli Hogarth and into the net—marking Ham’s second goal of the season. The remaining minutes of the second period proved to be a defensive battle, as both BC and Merrimack remained scoreless until the third period.
The scoring took off in the third period, though, with six total goals tallied between BC and the Warriors.
“We just talked about attacking the net a little more,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said of her message to the team after the second period. “You know, I think our team is so unselfish that sometimes they’re too unselfish that they want to make a nice passing play instead of sometimes taking the puck to the net when the lanes open.”
And, ultimately, the Eagles did just that.
Just 2:42 seconds into the third period, Jordan fired a shot into the top shelf of the Warriors’ net—marking her second goal of the night and propelling the Eagles to its first lead of the night. A minute and a half later, Pellerin followed Jordan’s lead and delivered another goal for BC, pushing the Eagles to a 4–2 lead over Merrimack.
“I think we’ve kind of preached in the past couple of weeks that we’re a goal scoring team,” Jordan said. “I think now that those pucks are going in, we’re getting the balances that we need.”
But BC was not done yet, and less than two minutes after Pellerin’s goal, Jade Arnone joined the scorers circle during a BC power play. Over six minutes later, with 7:14 left to play in the game, Pellerin launched the puck into the Warriors net, bringing the score to 6–3 in favor of BC. While Merrimack scored one more goal, BC’s offense heavily controlled possession for the remaining minutes of the game.
“As the game went on, and we started to get out the kind of pain of losing on Tuesday, I think we started playing well,” Crowley said.
Crowley said she is optimistic following BC’s performance against the Warriors.
“I am overall happy with the way we played,” Crowley said. “You know, we have had a hard couple of weeks, and I’m proud. I’m proud of our team for coming out of this game and finding a way to win against a team that you know is going to grind the whole 60 minutes, especially that we found a way to score six goals, that’s fantastic.”
