Boston College Athletics
Women's Ice Hockey Set To Take On Northeastern
March 08, 2002 | Women's Hockey
March 8, 2002
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
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FRIDAY'S GAME
Boston College enters Friday night's game as the #7 seed in the tournament, with a 9-18-4 overall record and a 5-13-3 mark in ECAC East games. The Eagles have gone 2-2-1 in their last five games.
The Eagles' scoring list is led by two seniors and a sophomore. Senior forward Kelly McManus leads the team in scoring with 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points. Sophomore Alaina Clark is second on the list with six goals and 15 assists for 21 points and senior captain Missy Barsz follows with 11 goals and seven assists for 18 points.
Northeastern University enters the game as the #2 seed in the tournament, with a 25-6-1 record and a 15-5-1 mark in the ECAC East. The Huskies are ranked fourth in the latest USA Today and USCHO.com polls. The Huskies tied New Hampshire, 2-2, in their last game on Mar. 1.
IN THE PLAYOFFS
Tonight's game marks the first meeting between Boston College and Northeastern in the postseason. The game is the first postseason contest for BC since the program elevated to Division I status in 1994-95.
AGAINST THE HUSKIES
Boston College and Northeastern University have met 21 times at the Division I level, with the Huskies holding an overwhelming edge in the all-time series, 20-0-1. Northeastern has won the last 18 meetings between the two schools. The Eagles' lone tie against the Huskies came on Jan 14, 1996 (4-4).
Last season, Northeastern took a pair of games from BC. On Jan. 31, the Huskies defeated the Eagles by the score of 7-2 at Matthews Arena. On March 3, Northeastern defeated BC, 8-1, at Kelley Rink.
This season, Northeastern won all three meetings with Boston College. On Nov. 10, the Huskies won by the score of 5-2 at Matthews Arena. The Huskies received three-point efforts from senior Brooke Whitney and junior Brooke White. The next evening, Northeastern squeaked out a 2-1 win over the Eagles at Kelley Rink. Whitney tallied both goals for NU and freshman goaltender Lisa Davis made 23 saves to keep BC in the game. On Jan. 22, NU won again by the score of 2-1 at Matthews Arena and Whitney was also the only goal scorer for the Huskies. Davis made 38 saves in net and sophomore Alaina Clark notched the only Eagle tally.
Senior Kelly McManus is the Eagles' leading scorer against NU, notching two goals and three assists in five games (at BC) against the Huskies. Sophomores Alaina Clark (two goals in five games) and Renee Taylor (two assists in three games) have recorded two points, while classmate Kaitlin McGrath (five games), freshman Sarah Carlson (three games), juniors Sarah Engwall (eight games) and Thia Connolly (eight games) and senior Jaclyn Kryzak (ten games) have registered one assist each against the Huskies. In addition, freshman Heidi Seidewand has scored one goal in three games.
LAST TIME OUT
In BC's last outing, the Eagles won, 1-0, against Providence College at Schneider Arena. Jaclyn Kryzak's goal late in the third period gave BC the upset win. Freshman goaltender Lisa Davis set a new career-high with 45 saves en route to the shutout.
WHO'S HOT
Senior Kelly McManus has registered eight goals and seven assists (for 15 points) in her last ten games ... senior captain Missy Barsz has four goals and two assists (for six points) in her last nine games ... sophomore Alaina Clark has two goals and 11 assists (for 13 points) in her last eight games ... freshman Kerri Sanders has two goals and two assists (for four points) in her last four games.
FEBRUARY FOCUS
Boston College enjoyed the best month of the season in February, compiling a 4-3-1 record. In addition the Eagles are 6-4-1 in their last 11 games, including two weekend splits with Maine and Providence.
Individually three BC players recieved weekly honors in the month. Senior Kelly McManus was named the ECAC East Player of the Week twice and was named the US College Hockey Online's National Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 4. Freshmen Lisa Davis and Kerri Sanders were each named the ECAC East Rookie of the Week once.
DEFENSE WINS
This season eight of the Eagles' nine victories have come when the defense has held the opposition to one or fewer goals. When allowing one or no goals, BC has defeated Vermont 3-0, Yale 3-0, Quinnipiac 2-0, 5-1, and 5-0, Cornell 2-1, Bowdoin 4-1, and Providence 1-0.
FRESHMAN COMING ON STRONG
Freshman winger Kerri Sanders has come on strong in her last four games. In that span, she has notched two goals and two assists for the Eagles.
Sanders assisted on two Kelly McManus goals in the 5-2 win over Maine on Feb. 22. The next evening, she scored two goals, keeping the Eagles in the game in a 5-3 loss to the Black Bears. For her strong performance, Sanders was recognized as the ECAC East Rookie of the Week.
SOPHOMORES LEADING THE CHARGE
Three sophomores have been an integral part of the Eagles' recent success. Alaina Clark has been on a tear for the Eagles of late, registering 13 points (two goals and 11 assists) in her last eight games. Renee Taylor's strong play helped the Eagles to a 3-3 tie against New Hampshire on Feb. 19. Taylor assisted on the Eagles' opening goal and scored the game-tying goal as BC rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the Wildcats. Kaitlin McGrath's strong play has led to the emergence of BC's second forward line. She had a career-high three-game point scoring streak from Feb. 12-22 and registered six of her twelve total points in the month of February.
SENIORS HEATING UP
Boston College's three senior forwards Kelly McManus, Missy Barsz and Jaclyn Kryzak have been leading by example this season. The trio has combined for 11 points on seven goals and four assists in BC's last four regular season games.
IN THE CREASE
Freshman goaltender Lisa Davis has been a model of consistency for the Eagles this season. The Falmouth, Mass. native has started in 29 of BC's 31 regular season games and has been the goaltender of record in all 29 of those matches.
Despite her 9-16-4 record, Davis has put up tremendous numbers in net. Her 2.54 goals against average, .919 save percentage and four shutouts are all Boston College regular season records. She currently ranks 25th in the nation in goals against average and 14th in savepercentage.
CENTURY AND BEYOND
Senior Kelly McManus reached the 100 point-mark for her career on Feb. 2 against Quinnipiac. McManus transferred from New Hampshire to BC after her sophomore year. She scored 54 points (17 goals, 37 assists in 69 games) at UNH. To date, she has registered 56 points in 61 games for the Eagles (30 goals, 26 assists).
McMANUS AMONG THE LEADERS
Senior Kelly McManus is 31st in the nation in point per game scoring with an average of 1.10. She is 10th in the ECAC Eastern League in overall scoring and is sixth in conference scoring with 25 points. She is also fourth in conference goal scoring with 16 tallies this season. 16 of her 17 goals this season have been scored in conference play.
RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
Sophomore Alaina Clark has raised her level of play in 2002. She has scored 19 of her 21 total points since the New Year (six goals and 13 assists), including a career-high five-point effort (5 assists) in a 5-0 win over Quinnipiac on Feb. 2. She has sky-rocketed from eighth on the team in scoring to second and has moved into a tie for 16th in the league in conference scoring.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Eagles have made a tremendous turnaround on the defensive end this season. Last season, BC gave up 174 goals in 32 games (averaging 5.44 per game). This season, by comparison, the Eagles have given up only 88 goals in 31 games (averaging 2.84 per game), a difference of 86 goals in essentially as many games.
NO ADVANTAGE
The Eagles have struggled this season on the power play, scoring just four goals on 86opportunities, for a 4.7 percent efficiency. Only senior Kelly McManus has registered more than one power play goal this season.
PENALTY KILLERS
Despite power play woes this season, the penalty kill unit has been exceptional. The Eagles rank third in the conference (15th in the nation) in overall penalty killing at 85.3 percent and third in conference penalty killing at 86.4 percent. BC penalty killers have only given up two goals in their last 23 shorthanded situations.
THE HEAD COACH - TOM BABSON
Head coach Tom Babson is in his third season at the Heights and overall as a head coach. He has compiled a 21-66-6 mark (.258 winning percentage) at Boston College and in his career. A 1969 graduate of Massachusetts, Babson came to the Heights in 2000 and brought with him his vast coaching experience.
Prior to arriving at BC, Babson served as training coach for the USA women's national and Olympic teams from 1996-99. He worked as a camp director for the USA National Women's Hockey Festival for three years from 1997-99, as well as national evaluator for USA Hockey in New England, New York and Southeast districts in 1999.
