OT Penalty Stroke Puts Damper on Senior Day

NEWTON, Mass. – The twelfth-ranked Boston College field hockey team twice battled back from one-goal deficits to force overtime against third-ranked Connecticut, but the Huskies converted a penalty stroke in the extra session to claim a 4-3 win at the Newton Field Hockey Complex on Sunday afternoon during the Eagles' Senior Day activities.

After a scoreless first half, the teams combined for six goals in the second 35:00, including the game-tying goal by BC's Eryn McCoy with under three minutes left in regulation.

Both teams had chances off penalty corners in the first overtime, but Connecticut was awarded a penalty stroke from theirs, which Casey Umstead converted to win the game with just 1:19 remaining in the first OT.

UConn moved to 18-1 on the season, while BC moved to 10-8 on the year.

"Our initial reaction to the end of the game and how it happened is a little disappointing," Boston College head coach Kelly Doton said. "We battled back from being down a one-goal deficit twice. They scored two quick goals to put them ahead, but our ability to stay with the game plan and score that tying goal with only minutes on the clock just shows you how resilient our players are. It's just unfortunate the outcome had to happen this way. Hopefully our players have faith that they did everything they could to win that game. We had our opportunities, but it just didn't turn out that way."

Connecticut out-shot the Eagles 9-2 in the first half, but BC had the stanza's best scoring chance. On Boston College's lone corner in the first, the Huskies blocked Eryn McCoy's shot and the Eagles were awarded a penalty stroke at 31:49. Emily McCoy stepped up and put a shot chest-high toward the left post, but her attempt was saved by UConn goaltender Nina Klein to keep the game level at the intermission.

UConn took advantage of its first penalty corner of the second half and staked a 1-0 lead that held for almost 14 minutes. Svea Boker pushed her stick stop left to Barbara van den Hoogan, who took some space before placing her shot just inside the far post and narrowly out of Audra Hampsch's reach at 41:57.

BC leveled the score at 1-1 at 55:46. Against the run of play, the Eagles broke into the Huskies' defensive end via Frederique Haverhals' long outlet pass to Alesandra Miller just inside the 25-yard line. Miller dribbled into space and sent in a sweeping backhanded pass low to the middle of the circle where Brittany Sheenan got a stick on the ball and deflected it up and over Klein.

Less than three minutes later, the Eagles took the lead as Leah Frome and Emily McCoy combined for the go-ahead goal. Frome played the ball ahead to McCoy charging through the midfield and she maintained possession after the ball skipped over a UConn defender's stick and into the circle. McCoy launched an off-balance shot while going right, and the ball cut back across and past Klein on the far side to give the Eagles the 2-1 lead at 58:32.

Five minutes later, UConn struck twice in less than a minute to seemingly change the game's fortunes.

Off another penalty corner, Anna Middendorf collected Umstead's stick stop pass on the left side and sent a goal-bound shot inside the far post behind Hampsch at 63:37. Just 21 seconds later, Boker played it wide and into the circle where Charlotte Veitner ran on to it and got enough space to put a backhand shot low and inside the far post.

Boston College continued to push in the game's final minutes and, after pulling the goaltender, tied it at 3-3 with less than three minutes to play. Haverhals' inbound pass in her own defensive half had eyes for Eryn McCoy at the top of the UConn circle. McCoy collected the pass, turned away from her defender and then cut inside, beating Klein with a shot back across the goal at 67:48.

After BC fended off a UConn corner with no time remaining, the teams went to overtime.

Both teams had chances to put the game away, including a combo play off a corner by Eryn McCoy and Frome, but Klein made both stops to keep play going. On the ensuing restart, however, UConn went the length of the field and was awarded a penalty corner of their own where Middendorf's shot was blocked and the Huskies were awarded a penalty stroke. Umstead checked into the game to take the stroke and her knee-high shot beat Hampsch to her right, allowing the Huskies to claim the rivalry win.

Boston College returns to action on Thursday, Nov. 3, when the team opens the ACC Championship against No. 8 Virginia. The teams will meet at 4 p.m. at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium in the third game of the afternoon. BC enters the tournament as the third seed, while Virginia is the sixth seed. Both teams finished 3-3 in conference play this year.

You can follow the team all season via its social channels: Twitter (@bcfieldhockey), Instagram (@bcfieldhockey) and Facebook (/BCFieldHockey).

GAME NOTES

Boston College moved to 12-23-1 all-time against Connecticut … this was the sixth-straight one-goal game between the teams
With their goals today, Eryn McCoy (85 pts.) and Emily McCoy (84 pts.) leapfrogged each other in 10^th place on the Boston College career scoring chart … Eryn entered the game with 83 points before Emily moved to 84 points with her goal … Eryn's game-tying goal late in the second half allowed her to reclaim 10th place with 85 points
The McCoy twins are also now tied for 10th place – with Julie Obear and Janna Anctil – on the Eagles' career goals chart with 34 goals apiece
Brittany Sheenan tallied her 10th goal of the season, extending her new season best … her second-half goal was her 21st career goal
Alesandra Miller collected her second assist of the season – and the second assist of her career – with her set-up of Sheenan's goal
Leah Frome notched her career-high third assist of the season with her helper on Emily McCoy's goal … she now has five assists in her career
Frederique Haverhals extended her team lead in assists to seven with her long outlet pass to Eryn McCoy on the Eagles' last goal … she now has 16 career assists
BC finished its home season 3-4 with all four losses coming in overtime
The Eagles are now 5-7 against ranked teams this year
Today's loss snapped the Eagles' three-game winning streak
This was the first time this season BC lost when scoring three or more goals
Prior to the game, the Eagles' six seniors and their families were recognized: Alexa Brazauskas, Leah Frome, Audra Hampsch, Emily McCoy, Eryn McCoy and Brittany Sheenan

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Team Stats

Eryn McCoy

Emily McCoy

Brittany Sheenan

Leah Frome

Players Mentioned

Alexa Brazauskas

Leah Frome

Audra Hampsch

Frederique Haverhals

Emily McCoy

Eryn McCoy

Alesandra Miller

Brittany Sheenan