Eagles Fall in WHEA Championship
March 08, 2015 | Women's Hockey
Box Score
HYANNIS, Mass. - Junior Alex Carpenter scored her 35th goal of the season, but it wasn't enough as seventh-ranked Boston University claimed a 4-1 win over the top-ranked Boston College women's hockey team to claim the 2015 Women's Hockey East Championship at the Hyannis Youth & Community Center.
Tournament MVP Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals to propel the Terriers to their fourth consecutive conference tournament title. Carpenter and defenseman Emily Pfazler were voted to the all-tournament team.
Boston University came out strong in the opening period, and out-shot the Eagles 11-10, while claiming the majority of the chances behind Poulin and the top line.
BU got on the board early at 4:56 of the first when Kazmaier Award top-3 finalist Poulin took a feed from Sarah Lefort from behind the net and slid a shot under Eagles goalkeeper Katie Burt.
The Terriers' Victoria Bach almost extended BU's lead to 2-0 with nine minutes left in the first period when her backhander nicked off the post, and BU's top line again had a chance late in the period when Lefort's re-direction of a Poulin pass was wide of Burt's goal. With 20 seconds left in the period, Poulin's shorthanded bid hit the crossbar.
After the Terriers killed off the Eagles' power play to start the second period, Eagles captain Emily Field broke in down the left wing and got in behind the BU defense, but Boston University goaltender Victoria Hanson made a stick save on the equalizing effort.
Boston College tied the game through the Eagles' own Kazmaier Award finalist - and the nation's leading scorer - Alex Carpenter. With play along the boards, defenseman Emily Pfalzer corralled the clearance attempt at the point and found Carpenter in the slot. Carpenter banked her 35th goal of the season home, inside the post past Hansen's pad at 6:14 of the second.
After Carpenter's goal, the Eagles picked up the attack and out-shot the Terriers 11-4 in the second period.
The Eagles continued to swarm as the third opened, but Poulin struck again and put BU back up by a goal at 2:40. After skating around the back of the net, she flicked the puck up glove side for the 2-1 lead.
The Terriers pushed the lead to 3-1 at 12:31 of the third when Maddie Elia backhanded a power-play goal past Burt after Lexie Bender had been sent to the box for hooking at 11:16 and Emily Field had a shorthanded one-on-one bid against Hanson saved.
BU added an empty-net goal at 18:36 when Lefort scored after Poulin sent her in behind the Eagles' extra attacker.
NOTES
- This is the second year in a row that the Eagles fell in the Women's Hockey East Tournament title game to the Terriers
- Tonight's loss to BU was the Eagles' first of the season to the Terriers ... BC came into the game 2-0-1 against BU this season
- Today's game marked the 10th time this season the Eagles' opponent scored first ... BC is now 7-1-2 when surrendering the game's first goal
- Today's game was only the fourth time the Eagles trailed after one period - three of those times were to Boston University - and BC is now 1-1-2 in when trailing after the first this season.
- Alex Carpenter's goal in the second period was her nation-leading 35th goal on the season ... she has now scored one goal in each of the last four games
- Emily Pfazler's assist on Alex Carpenter's second-period goal was her 34th assist this season
The NCAA Championship Selection Show will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on ncaa.com, and the Eagles will learn their next opponent in the NCAA Quarterfinal, which will be held at campus sites next weekend.
To keep up with BC women's hockey news and receive in-game updates, follow @BC_WHockey on Twitter.
