The Heights
B4
Monday, November 12, 2012
Mewis a steady force in BC’s win Early lead helps BC push past BU Women’s Soccer, from B1 moments of the games, when games have been tight, it’s been Kristen Mewis who’s answered the call, and the top players in the country know how to take care of business and [that] one just sealed off the game,” Foley said. The game was only in reach, though, because of Morphitis’s seven saves. Whether BC shot from long range, just outside the box, or at point blank, Morphitis made all but two plays. The Eagles struck first in the 12th minute, as Mewis won the ball in the midfield and pushed into Hofstra territory. The rest was history after that. “There was some open space in front of [Stephanie McCaffrey], who’s pretty much the fastest girl on our team, because the back line was sitting up a bit,” Mewis said. “I just clipped her a little ball over the top, and she ran onto it and chipped it right over the goalie.” Morphitis would shut the door for the next 68 minutes.
“I was very disappointed in myself after the first goal, but I just tried to deal with the mistake, get it out of my system, and concentrate on the next 30 minutes of the game where I thought I did a better job at reading the balls through,” Morphitis said. BC had not tasted victory since an Oct. 18th upset over then No. 1 Florida State. In a do or die NCAA game, both home field and an early lead may have made all the difference in the team’s first win in three weeks. “We talked about it before the game,” Foley said. “We said it’d be good to get ahead in the first 15 minutes of the game. When you do that, it allows you to play your style.” “We had a little bit of a rough end of the year, and I think it was really important for the seniors and the rest of the team to get one more game here at home,” Mewis said. “It was really special for us, and I think we played how we should have.” The Eagles now have a second-round matchup with No. 1 Penn State on Friday night in Happy Valley, after the Nittany Lions defeated LIU-Brooklyn 4-0. n
Men’s Hockey, from B1 net a goal. Prior to this weekend’s games, the Eagles had been rock solid when playing with an advantage, scoring 32.3 percent of the time (10-for-31). In their last two games, however, the Eagles have had much more trouble taking advantage of their power plays. “[The game] was a little bit fractured because there were so many penalties, but even with that I thought there was some really just good hockey plays from both teams—pucks moved, very unselfish by both teams,” said York about the high number of penalties on both sides during the game. While BC has continued to move the puck with relative ease when it is on the advantage, the power play unit, as a whole, has had trouble lately controlling the puck at key moments. For example, when receiving passes across the slot, the Eagles have simply been unable to maintain control of the puck and finish the play. The unit has had even more trouble taking quality shots while on the advantage. Although unable to capitalize on a power play, the Eagles were finally able to open things up in the third.
Hayes scored at 11:01 on a shot taken from behind the net that deflected off of BU goaltender Matt O’Connor, which gave BC a 2-0 advantage. Forward Danny Linell was credited with the assist. “Their goalie was down, so I tried to just make a play out front, and fortunately I was lucky enough that it hit the goalie and went in,” Hayes said about his goal. Hayes had two assists in the game and was the first star of the night. Then, at 12:23, forward Johnny Gaudreau extended the Eagles’ lead to three goals when he scored his seventh goal of the season. Forward Steven Whitney was credited with the assist. The Eagles’ third goal ultimately ended up being the decisive one. Although forward Bill Arnold scored an unassisted open net goal while the Eagles were short handed, the Terriers were able to score a second goal at 18:43. Thus, Gaudreau’s goal proved to be the game winner, his fifth game-winning goal of the season. With the victory, the Eagles improve to 8-1-0 on the season. York also earned his 921st career win, and is now four wins away from becoming the winningest ice hockey coach in NCAA history. n
Eagles outskate Notre Dame en route to Holy War win on the ice By Chris Marino
Assoc. Sports Editor On Friday night, the No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey team (7-1-0) defeated the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-3-0), 3-1, in front of an electric crowd at Kelley Rink to start the Holy War weekend on a high note. With the win, the Eagles secured the Snooks KelleyLefty Smith Trophy, awarded to the winner of the BC-ND classic. The home team was led by sophomore forward Johnny Gaudreau, who scored two goals, including the game-winner in the second period. For head coach Jerry York, the victory was a culmination of full team execution, and could have seen either team walk away with a win. “We’ve got a lot of respect for that team,” he said. “We’ve lost to them over the last few years. There are certainly two good hockey teams walking out of here tonight. We’re very excited and fortunate to get the ‘W.’ I thought right at the end of the game, they had really Grade-A chances that Parker stopped. I’ll have to watch the film to see how he stopped it, but he had some great saves.” Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson said that his team fully knew the Eagles’ abilities, but they were just too much for his team. “Anytime you play the national champions,
it’s always a measuring stick,” he said. “We aspire to play the way they play. Their speed was certainly a factor, along with everything they do. They put a lot of pressure on you, and break you down. They’re a good team, as advertised and as I expected.” The first period featured some even play between the Eagles and the Fighting Irish. ND finished the period with the 9-4 shot advantage, but Parker Milner proved to be the difference-maker in the frame. BC had two power-play opportunities, but the Irish penalty-kill unit proved too strong, leaving the Eagles with nothing to show in the period. Notre Dame nearly came away with the game’s first score with less than a minute left to play, and the Irish on a power play. With the Eagles on their heels, ND maintained strong possession and created some traffic in front of the net. The puck somehow managed to slip through the crease, but Milner made a diving stop to cover the loose puck, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The second period saw a completely different BC squad take the ice. At the 4:41 mark, senior captain Pat Mullane took a great feed from defenseman Patrick Wey at mid-ice, and broke away without a defender in sight. He made a strong backhand move to put the puck in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
“I actually got kicked out of that draw, which I was frustrated about,” Mullane said. “I don’t know where the puck went, but it ended up on Pat Wey’s stick. I saw that land and shot out there. It’s not something we drew up, but it seemed to work out. Pat Wey made a great pass.” The Eagles saw a complete team effort at both ends of the ice, especially on the penalty kill unit. In particular, Quinn Smith and Isaac MacLeod made significant contributions on the defensive end to keep the Irish from utilizing their player advantage. Notre Dame also did well at killing BC power plays, as the two teams combined to be 0-for-11 on power-play opportunities for the night. BC looked to double its lead at the 16:30 mark, as Gaudreau finally got one past ND goalie Steven Summerhays. The play started with freshman defenseman Michael Matheson, who hit Gaudreau breaking down and across the ice. Gaudreau, who drew several penalties on skilled moves toward the net throughout the game, finally managed to separate himself from the Irish defense on a three-on-one for his team. After faking a pass across the crease, he lifted the shot for a topshelf, stick-side score. “Johnny played outstanding,” York said. “He was hard to control tonight. He drew a lot of
penalties because he was making plays with the puck. He had two or three plays that put us on the power play.” After finishing the first period down 9-4 on shots, the Eagles outplayed the Irish at both ends, ending the second period with a 12-2 advantage. The defense forced ND to take bad shots, if it could even manage to get the puck into its offensive zone. The Eagles were also able to create some offensive push throughout the period to pressure Summerhays. The final frame included a stronger push from the visiting team. The team created better looks offensively, and gave Milner and the defense a tougher task. At 7:10, a heavy barrage of shots finally culminated in a score for Thomas DiPauli, cutting the Eagles’ lead in half, 2-1. That would be the last score for the Irish, as Milner stepped up with several big time saves to preserve the lead and ignite the BC student section. With just over seven minutes left to play, ND broke down the ice on a partial breakaway, leaving Milner to face the attack by himself. Despite the lack of help, he met the forward in the crease and blocked the shot. Moments later, Milner made the highlight stop of the game with the Eagles on another penalty kill. Forward Jeff Costello ripped a shot a few feet away from the right
post, but Milner shot his glove out at the last second to make the save. He would finish the contest with 19 saves, including eight in the final frame. The Eagles would close out any chance for a Notre Dame comeback with three seconds left to play. The BC defense was able to maintain possession as the clock wound down, forcing Summerhays to remain on the ice. When ND eventually secured the puck, Summerhays took off for the bench, but junior Bill Arnold broke up the Irish offensive and found Gaudreau down the ice. Gaudreau hit the empty-net score to give the Eagles the eventual 3-1 victory. Mullane said after the game that this victory came down to a complete team effort from not only the player, but also from all parties involved with the club. “I thought it was an overall solid team performance,” he said. “I think we executed exactly what we wanted. We stuck to our game plan, and in big games like that with a lot of emotion and with the crowd and excitement, a lot of teams tend to stray away from their game plan or what we want to focus on. From our managers, our coaching staff, our trainers, and through the team, we had a plan set in mind going into practice on Tuesday and we stuck right to it through the full 60 minutes.” n
daniel lee / heights editor
(Clockwise from top left) Parker Milner came up with save after save on Friday night to secure the win over the Irish, giving the offense energy to score three times on the other end of the ice. Pat Mullane congratulates his team after the win.
Bates still trying to settle down to life in Chestnut Hill amid turmoil Column, from B1 By my eye, Bates has done just that. He’s been at every single football game since he was hired, even when he was still wrapping things up in Ohio. Time after time, he’s stood at the door of the locker room to give his players a pat on the back after the tough games. Maybe it’s not exactly what the football team needs, but it’s all he can do at this point—be a visible leader throughout the tough times. I’ve gone back and forth about whether I think Spaziani should still be the coach through the end of the season. After the loss at Wake Forest, I was all ready to fill this space with reasons why Doug Martin should be the interim head coach for the rest of the year. But what Bates said at his introductory press conference stopped me from doing so—his idea of not making quick decisions and instead looking at a “body of work rather than the emotional rollercoaster of every week.”
Sure, Bates knows about the downward trend of the football team in its years under Spaziani’s guidance, but he wasn’t here to witness it. There’s a difference between being on the outside looking in and actually immersing yourself in the program, and Bates is doing the latter now. Firing Spaziani midseason would have been similar to the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to fire Mike Brown five games into the season. That’s absurd. I know BC is now 10 games into its season, but Bates has only been around the program for five. Bates has adhered to his original promise of not making a decision in the emotional rollercoaster, and stood by that statement last week. “I’ve actually studied this, mid-season coaching changes or announcements— you’ve always got to think about the students,” Bates said. “And maybe you get an emotional lift for a week, but after that when the authority has been diminished, it just isn’t the healthiest environment for
the students. So the focus has got to be that week-to-week and game-to-game, we’re striving for excellence and we’re trying to win each week. So I think that if we’re always reminding ourselves that our goal is to maximize student development, then those decisions play out at the end of the season.” He referred to a similar situation he encountered at Miami University, when the women’s soccer team endured a difficult season. Bates showed patience and wise judgment, and the result spoke for itself. “A year ago, Miami’s women’s soccer program didn’t even make the conference tournament, this year they won the league, and they just won the conference tournament championship,” Bates said. “[When you’re facing] adversity, you want to gather as much information as possible, because if we’d just looked at a snapshot of one year of Miami soccer, you would’ve said get rid of the coach
and get someone new. But here we are a year later and he went undefeated in the regular-season and never lost a game this year in the conference, and now he’s in the NCAAs.” Sure, the situation is different, but Bates isn’t a stranger to dealing with head coaches. In doing so, he wants to make rational decisions while not squashing expectations for the program. “We want to have expectations of excellence, ever to excel, but the role of the athletic administration is we’ve got to assess whether we’re providing the resources to our coaches so that they can maximize that student development through excellence and performance,” he said. “And so a big part of what we’ve got to grasp is that we’re investing in coaches—the coaches are the primary facilitators of this student development. They’re the ones that are spending a majority of the time as catalysts to the students’ development. As administrators, we’ve
got to provide them with the resources that allow them to maximize their student development.” While it may seem like it, I don’t think the decision to fire Spaziani is as black and white as it appears. We’re all fans of instant gratification, and since the wins aren’t coming, I understand the idea of the next best thing being an immediate firing. But I also believe that Bates knows what he’s doing. I don’t think he would have been hired if he didn’t have a plan to fix the football program. So while he hasn’t made the decision that everyone’s been waiting for, it’s not like he’s blind to the issues at hand either. Patience is running thin at this point, but Bates is asking for the betterment of the program.
Greg Joyce is the Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@ bcheights.com.