After final weekend’s brutal drubbing by the hands of #8 Quinnipiac, Boston College Women’s Hockey confronted off in opposition to a far more straightforward opponent in the Merrimack Warriors this week, giving the staff a welcome alternative to regroup. But even with the weaker opposition, the Eagles nonetheless had to execute to get the wins. Last yr’s 3 victories over Merrimack have been through a blended 4 targets, and the gradual begin to this season didn’t give all that a lot self assurance that BC would be capable of keep watch over those video games up to one may hope. But Coach Crowley’s squad did what they had to do in each video games, taking the weekend home-and-home in a sweep with wins of 4-1 and 4-0 heading into a pleasing lengthy week.
Boston College wasn’t reasonably as sharp as it’s possible you’ll be expecting in Thursday night’s recreation given the 4-1 ultimate rating. It used to be the definition of a “just okay” effort in opposition to a staff that they must simply deal with, and whilst BC did get to find their targets after they wanted them, they have been nonetheless, bafflingly. outshot through the Warriors. Shots don’t at all times inform the entire tale, and certainly the overall depend used to be closely influenced through a 17-8 body in prefer of Merrimack, yet in this situation a lot of the sport used to be very a lot a case of Boston College suffering to stay keep watch over of the puck when beneath force and making some panicked passes when making an attempt to wreck out of their defensive finish — a irritating function of final yr’s staff.
But speedy ahead to Friday’s domestic leg of the weekend sequence on the pleasant confines of Conte Forum, and the Eagles performed like a unique staff fully. Boston College took command of this one right away, each at the scoreboard and in recreation drift, and regulated Merrimack the way in which they must. Three first duration targets from Olivia O’Brien, Hannah Bilka, and Kate Ham put the sport neatly out of succeed in, and a completely dominant 2nd duration (pictures 20-6 in prefer of BC) choked the lifestyles out of any hope in any respect of a Merrimack comeback. Abby Newhook put domestic a fourth function to wrap up the scoring, and in the 3rd duration Abbey Levy locked issues down for the shutout.
Things get fascinating for the Eagles subsequent weekend as they host Penn State for a couple of video games at domestic. The Nittany Lions open their yr with 5 of their first six contests in opposition to Top 6 groups — and so they have already got a surprising season-opening 4-1 victory over #1 Wisconsin to their resume. Boston College lovers can be very in seeing simply how Penn State fares in their weekend sequence in opposition to #6 Colgate these days and the following day main into subsequent week’s sequence in opposition to the Eagles. BC struggled final yr in video games in opposition to solid-but-not superb groups, so subsequent weekend’s matchups can be crucial litmus check to peer how Boston College has advanced from final season.