SPORTS
Monday, February 27, 2023
A12
The Heights
BC Downs Huskies, Moves to Hockey East Semis Hockey, from A1 Pyne’s overtime game-winner secured BC the 4–3 victory over UConn (18–13–4, 12–11–4) and a spot in the semifinals. “I’m so proud of this group,” Pyne said. “We’ve been going all season and it just shows we have no quit.” BC started to create opportunities halfway through the first frame with cross-ice passing, but fell short against the Connecticut 3 persistence Boston College 4 of the Huskies’ defenders, who were constantly disrupting passing lanes. The Eagles’ third line, however, picked up the energy, creating turnovers and forcing UConn to reset. And with less than two minutes left in the period, defender Alexie Guay sent a pass to Cayla Barnes, who fired it back to Guay for a shot from the point. Waiting backdoor, Caroline Goffredo came across the ice to tip in the loose puck to put BC ahead 1–0. It was Goffredo’s second goal of the season after missing time due to injury. “To see her finally put one in— and one that meant so much—was really good for her,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “I thought that the whole line, especially in the first half of the game, were getting pucks low and creating offensive opportunities from that. They worked hard together and I think that’s what made them so successful.” The first period ended scoreless,
and it wasn’t until freshman Brooke Campbell took advantage of a defensive zone turnover 10 minutes into the second period that action picked up. Campbell located a rebound from Christina Walker to rifle the puck past Levy, leveling the score at one. BC, however, responded quickly. Abby Newhook set herself up with a pass to Barnes, who sent a back-
hand pass back to the sophomore in the low slot. Newhook found an open space in front of the net to tip the puck in for her 19th goal of the season to give BC a 2–1 lead at the 11:50 mark. But the Huskies rebounded at the 17:20 mark, as Jada Habisch notched her fourth goal against the Eagles this season after firing a near-side shot to the post. The puck popped
off the body of Levy and snuck past the goaltender to tie the game at two. After intermission, UConn returned to the ice in the third period with steady offensive possession, registering 11 shots and leaving BC without any for the first five minutes. The Huskies struck when Habisch sent a cross-ice pass to an undefended Campbell, who landed the shot to hand the Huskies their
KENNETH CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF
Forward Katie Pyne (top left) netted BC’s final two goals of the game, including the overtime game-winner.
first lead of the game at the 14:52 mark. “I always have hope in this group,” Levy said. “They can pull crazy things out of their bag of tricks. I never think we’re losing until that buzzer goes off.” The Eagles, once again, responded quickly. Less than 90 seconds later, Hannah Bilka gathered the puck from the boards to send a pass to Guay. Guay fired a shot from the top of the point that found Pyne, who knotted the game at three by poking the puck past UConn goaltender Tia Chan. “I was so fired up, no matter if I scored or not,” Pyne said. “In between periods, I was so hyper. So, just going out, I think that gave me the extra adrenaline that I needed.” No team could score before the buzzer sounded, and they entered overtime neck and neck. The Huskies outshot the Eagles 33–30 in regulation. Just over three minutes into the extra period, Newhook sent the puck up to Pyne, who skated through the remaining defense. Pyne landed a shot on net at the 2:39 mark to hand BC a 4–3 victory and secure the Eagles a spot in the semifinals. “We have a group in this room that can do something special,” Crowley said. “This is just the next step in the cog. Obviously, UConn’s been a thorn in our side here for the last little bit. It was nice to pull out this win.” n
Black Bears Notch 2–1 Win Over BC By Mackenzie Shea Heights Staff
NICOLE WEI / HEIGHTS STAFF
Eagles Pummel Duke 17–8 By Luke Evans Asst. Sports Editor No. 4 Boston College lacrosse’s difficult schedule continued with its fourth straight ranked matchup of the season, Duke 8 as the Eagles Boston College 17 opened up ACC play against No. 10 Duke on Saturday. “I think these girls want the best of the best all year round because it just requires them to play at such a high level all the time,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “And we can never take your foot off the gas. So this is the part of what it’s like to play here.” Entering the high stakes matchup, Duke held a 15–5 all-time series lead over BC (3–1, 1–0 Atlantic Coast). But the Eagles are quickly chipping away at that lead—having now won four of their last five contests against Duke—and Saturday’s 17–8 statement victory over the Blue Devils (3–1, 0–1) added to that total. “I think we just had a tough fundamental game last weekend,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And it was a great opportunity to learn. And the girls embraced a really hard week of practice and hard messages from the coaches and they got a lot better.” The Eagles wasted no time establishing a lead over Duke, as Cassidy Weeks found the back of the net under a minute into the first quarter. The early score set the tone of the game, as the Eagles never conceded their lead. Kayla Martello, Mallory Hasselbeck, and Mckenna Davis joined the scoring in the first quarter, recording a goal each, while goalkeeper Rachel
Hall let in just one goal, anchoring BC’s defense. “I thought Rachel was such a leader today,” Walker-Weinsetin said. “She kept her composure, she made all the saves that she needed to make plus a few extra and I just think the defense really embraced the adjustments that were made this week and they played as a unit and that’s when they’re, to me, the best defensive unit in the country.” After penalties—which led to free-position goals—plagued BC in its matchup on Feb. 19 against then-No. 5 Northwestern, the Eagles stayed disciplined and allowed Duke just three free-position shots in the affair. Just like in the first quarter, BC scored early in the second, as Jenn Medjid tallied her 10th goal of the season 1:30 into the quarter to put BC up 5–1. Duke responded with a goal of its own which brought it back within three, but Belle Smith answered at the 11:07 mark. A foul on Sydney Scales gifted Duke its first free-position attempt, and Lexi Schmalz capitalized, cutting BC’s lead to 6–3. After the goal, however, the Blue Devils went on a 17-minute scoring drought which allowed BC to extend its lead. A late Weeks goal at the end of the first half put the Eagles up 7–3, and BC picked up where it left off in the third quarter. Hall continued to put on a defensive clinic, acting like a brick wall in the second half. After her fifth save of the contest, BC cleared the ball and marched down the field. Medjid potted her second goal of the game to put BC up 8–3 at the 13:37 mark of the third quarter.
Four minutes later, Duke sent a barrage of shots in Hall’s direction, but the Eagles forced a shot clock violation. In a perfect example of strong defense leading to strong offense, BC cleared the ball and again trudged down the field for a Martello goal to go up 9–3. Three minutes after that, Davis put the Eagles up 10–3. Duke ended its scoring drought with 2:10 to go in the third quarter, and the Eagles went into the final quarter up six goals. After early fourth-quarter goals gave BC a 12–4 lead and appeared to ice the game, Duke went on a scoring frenzy, recording four straight goals in just over four minutes. Despite backup goalkeeper Shea Dolce entering the last three games for at least one quarter of play, Walker-Weinstein decided to keep Hall in for the entire game, even after Duke’s run. “You know, we have a plan, we’ve got two incredible goalies and we make, you know, some decisions in advance, and some decisions in the moment,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And the two of them, Rachel and Shea, have been incredible to each other and they compete but they support each other and that’s all we can ask for.” A Martello goal stopped the bleeding with 5:54 left in the game, and the Eagles tacked on four more insurance goals. “I just think these guys sometimes forget how experienced they are,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And I just said to them to take a deep breath, and smile, and let their shoulders drop, and just be calm, and remember how to play at this level and they did such a great job.” n
Boston College men’s hockey took 32 shots on goal in the finale of BC’s season series against Maine on Saturday Boston College 1 night, but Maine 2 M a i n e ’s Mike Richter Award semi-finalist goaltender Victor Ostman played like a brick wall, stopping all but one of them. BC (12–14–6, 7–10–5 Hockey East) battled hard against the Black Bears (15–13–5, 9–9–4) in a game with eight total penalties and plenty of missed opportunities at a packed Alfond Arena. Despite a late surge in the third frame, the Eagles failed to filter the puck into the net and fell 2–1. With the loss, BC has now lost its last five games played in Orono, Maine. Before Saturday, the Eagles recorded a 6–3 loss to Maine on Friday, and Maine previously defeated BC 3–1 on Feb. 10. “The effort was there,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “We did a lot but we just gotta find some way to get the pucks in the net.” The first period alone included four BC penalties—the same amount of total penalties the Eagles recorded on Friday night. But BC killed those penalties with precision, so much so that Maine only capitalized on the last penalty of the period—a faceoff violation on Trevor Kuntar. Between the 11:48 mark and the 15:50 mark of the first frame, Maine outshot BC 11–1 before Nolan Renwick scored the Black Bears’ first goal on the man advantage. Although BC went down a goal, Renwick’s tally happened to be Maine’s only power-play goal of the night, as it went one of five on power-play opportunities. The Black Bears’ 20 percent conversion rate on Saturday night was in stark contrast to their 66 percent conversion rate the night before. The Eagles’ only shot in that time span was a Lukas Gustafsson breakaway shot 14:38 into the first period,
but Ostman stopped it, adding to his save total. The Eagles jumped onto the ice with more momentum and coordination in the second period, but it didn’t reflect on the scoreboard until over 13 minutes into the frame. BC failed to convert on a power play 5:37 into the period, and at the 11:40 mark, Maine notched another goal—with Grayson Arnott redirecting Lynden Breen’s shot on BC goaltender Mitch Benson. But the Eagles’ surge finally paid off just over two minutes later. At the 13:38 mark, Cutter Gauthier entered Maine’s zone and fired a shot through Ostman’s five-hole—the only shot the netminder let hit the back of the net all night. BC kept its deficit at one goal through the end of the second frame. The Eagles outshot Maine on goal 20–5 in the second period, displaying a sharp reversal from the first. BC played even harder in the third, by getting gritty and filtering pucks out of corners. But Ostman’s goaltending shone through. Gauthier missed a wide-open one-timer 3:11 into the third frame, and just over two minutes later, Mike Posma rang a shot off the pipe. Once again, Ostman saved a Marshall Warren slapshot at the end of another BC power-play opportunity. “We’re battling, we’re just not scoring very easy right now,” Brown said. “Just hard to rely only on the power play but doing a lot of things right.” The Eagles pulled Benson out of the goal with 2:17 remaining in the game, but Ostman unwaveringly defended his crease. BC took shot after shot but missed each opportunity. “Until the 6–5, they weren’t point-blank chances,” Brown said. “In the 6–5, we had two really good looks there.”
Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com