BC can’t beat butterflies, Buckeyes
Playing in the NCAA tournament for the eighth straight year, Boston College wasn’t expected to have a difficult time dealing with nerves.
The butterflies were supposed to happen for a tournament debutante, Ohio State.
Yet the Buckeyes looked like the perennial tournament contender despite this being their first appearance in the NCAA women’s hockey event.
Ohio State was impressive through two periods and survived the third thanks to goalie Kassidy Sauve, who finished with 38 saves in a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Boston College yesterday at Kelley Rink.
The Buckeyes (24-10-4) advanced to the women’s Frozen Four next weekend in Minneapolis.
BC (30-5-3) had appeared in three straight national semifinals, and six of the last seven, until this somewhat surprising setback.
“We have a shortened roster this year and maybe we got a little tired. We tried to give them more days off so they weren’t tired, but sometimes it’s mentally exhausting,” said BC coach Katie Crowley, who was without defensemen Cayla Barnes, Megan Keller and Kali Flanagan while they played for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team. “It’s a hard year from September to March and it’s grueling.”
The Eagles also lost second-line right winger Molly Slowe to injury during the Hockey East playoffs, which also ended surprisingly early for BC with a semifinal loss to UConn.
Ohio State got a power-play goal from Lauren Boyle midway through the second period and Maddy Field added the insurance marker, knocking in her own rebound on a counterattack with 4:17 remaining.
Boyle’s wrister from the right circle off a pass from Julianna Iafallo beat BC senior goaltender Katie Burt glove side and came with nine seconds left on an extended power play that included 1:22 of 5-on-3 time. It was the only goal the Buckeyes mustered past Burt over a dominating opening two periods in which Ohio State outshot the Eagles 32-15.
Ohio State’s Sauve had not played since Feb.17, because of an injury and battled the Eagles on a heavily bandaged right knee. Sauve made a late-reaction lefttoe save after a Caitrin Lonergan shot. That seemed to sum up the Eagles’ luck on the afternoon.
Midway through the third and still a one-goal game, Sauve denied Lonergan on a breakaway.
The Buckeyes limited the nation’s leading scorer and Patty Kazmaier Award finalist freshman Daryl Watts to five shots.
With just four seniors, there aren’t many pieces to replace for BC, but a big one is Burt. The Lynn native leaves with 121 wins, most in NCAA history. The Eagles will also miss left winger Kenzie Kent of Norwell and defenseman Toni Ann Miano.
“We’re not there yet,” Crowley said. “We still have that national championship that we’re hunting down, and we fell short again this year.”
Colgate 3, Northeastern 1 — Sophomore forward Andrea Renner scored a goal for the Huskies (19-17-3), but it wasn’t enough to derail the Red Raiders (33-5-1) in Hamilton, N.Y.
Renner’s goal at 11:24 of the second period, with assists by Lauren Kelly and Maddie Hartman, evened the score at 1-1 entering the final period.
Olivia Zafuto scored early in the third period for Colgate and Bailey Larson potted an empty-net goal with 50 seconds to go.
NU goalie Aerin Frankel had 33 saves.
Norwich 8, Morrisville State 2 — Amanda Conway of Methuen had a hat trick plus an assist as the Cadets (25-1-3) advanced to the NCAA Division 3 Frozen Four with an easy win over the Mustangs (17-8-3) in Norfield, Vt.
Alyssa Hulst and Maddie Blauth each had two goals for Norwich.
Conway did all her damage during the second period, netting goals at 3:45, 6:29 (power play) and 17:44 of the session.
Plattsburgh St. 3, Middlebury 1 — Ashley Songin’s goal at 6:58 of the third period lifted the second-ranked Cardinals (21-4-3) to an NCAA Div.3 win over the NESCAC champion Panthers (20-5-3) in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Maddie Winslow had the lone goal for Middlebury and Lin Han made 35 saves for the Panthers.