Connecticut’s season sadly came to a close this past weekend in a quarterfinals round loss to Boston College. The Huskies fought in a back-and-forth matchup with the Eagles but just weren’t able to put in the final dagger. They finished the season with an overall record of 18-13-4 with a 12-11-4 conference record.
This was the fourth matchup between these two teams this season. The previous three were all won by the Huskies. Due to their conference records, Boston College claimed homefield advantage as the four-seed in the tournament while UConn came in as the five.
Scoring started late in the first period when Boston College’s Caroline Goffredo deflected a shot in front of the goal, putting the Eagles up 1-0. It was only her second goal of the year, and it gave the Eagles the early advantage.
The lead lasted until midway through the second period. A Christina Walker pass hit off the skate of a Boston College defender leaving UConn’s Brooke Campbell alone in front of the goal with the puck. Campbell would shoot past the outstretched arms of goaltender Abigail Levy to knot the game up at one apiece.
Minutes later, Cayla Barnes passed in front of the net to her Eagles teammate Abby Newhook who would put Boston College up one again. She now has 19 goals on the season which leads the Eagles team. Cayla Barnes had two assists on the day which made her only the 35th player in Boston College Women’s Ice Hockey history with 75 career points.
The Huskies weren’t out yet. Leading scorer Jada Habisch scored to add to her season total and tied the game up for a second time. Battling through defenders, Habisch was able to ricochet the puck off of Levy in the bottom corner of the goal to tie the game, this time at two goals each. This ended up being Habisch’s last goal of the season. She finished with 13 on the year which ranks first on the team.
Habisch and Campbell didn’t stop there. With around five minutes left in the game, Jada Habisch skated behind the goal firing a pass to the wide open Brooke Campbell who hammered the puck into the top right corner of the net. This put the Huskies in front 3-2 with not a lot of game left to play. This was Campbells second of the game, also her seventh and eighth goals on the season.
Similar to their first goal, Eagles sophomore Katie Pyne tipped in a shot from Alexie Guay to tie the game up for the third time, with now under four minutes left in regulation.
The score would remain 3-3 at the end of the third period, sending the game into overtime.
Pyne would strike again, ending the Huskies season midway through the overtime period with her second goal of the game. On a two on one advantage, Pyne hit the lower lefthand corner of the net to send her team to the next round. With two goals on the game, that brings her season total to 11 goals scored which is third best on the team.
Abigail Levy earns the win for the Eagles, blocking 33 shots on three goals allowed. UConn’s Tia Chan blocked 28 shots while allowing four goals.
Though not the ending they had hoped for, this is how the UConn women’s ice hockey season will close. Despite fighting their way until the end, they weren’t able to make it onto the next rounds. This season showed that the team has many promising stars that can help with this program’s future success.
The Eagles advance into the semifinal round of the tournament to take on juggernaut Northeastern. Boston College will look to dethrone the champions of the last five Hockey East tournaments in what will be a battle between in-state rivals. On the other side of the bracket, Vermont and Providence faceoff to see who will make it to the championship game. These games will both be played on March 1 followed by the championship final on March 3. The winner of this tournament gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which will take place from March 17-19.