Eagles Close Out Fall Semester with a Home-and-Home Against Merrimack

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The ninth-ranked Boston College women's hockey team closes its fall schedule this weekend with a home-and-home series against Merrimack. The Eagles will host the opening game on Friday, Dec. 7, facing off at 2 p.m. at Kelley Rink. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN3, which is available via WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app. On Saturday, BC will travel to North Andover, Mass. for a 2 p.m. puck drop at the Warriors' Lawler Rink.

Boston College (12-6-0, 9-4-0 HEA) comes into Friday's contest looking to end a three-game losing streak. The team lost in overtime to No. 3 Northeastern on Tuesday, Nov. 27 and fell in both games of a weekend series against Boston University. The Eagles sit in second place in Hockey East with 18 points, eight back of Northeastern and two up of third-place Providence.

Merrimack (10-5-2, 6-5-1 HEA) was swept in a home-and-home with New Hampshire last weekend and is 1-4-0 in its last five outings. The Warriors, who are tied for fifth in the league standings with 13 points, rattled off six consecutive conference wins since dropping its first meeting with BC on Oct. 19.

Boston College will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 5 at New Hampshire.

GAME 19
No. 9/9 Boston College (12-6-0, 9-4-0 HEA) vs. Merrimack (10-5-2, 6-5-1 HEA)
Kelley Rink at Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Friday, Dec. 7, 2018 | 2 p.m.

GAME 20
No. 9/9 Boston College (12-6-0, 9-4-0 HEA) at Merrimack (10-5-2, 6-5-1 HEA)*
Lawler Rink | North Andover, Mass.
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 | 2 p.m.
*records do not include Friday night's results.

BOSTON COLLEGE IN BRIEF
• BC enters Friday's game looking to end a three-game losing streak after dropping a game at No. 3 Northeastern last Tuesday and falling to Boston University in a home-and-home on the weekend.
• The Eagles had 50 shots on goal in the 5-4 overtime loss to the Huskies, with Caitrin Lonergan and Cayla Barnes both registering a game-high of seven.
• BU ended a seven-game winless streak in the Comm Ave series with a 3-2 win at Kelley Rink on Nov. 30 ... it was the first home loss of the season for BC.
• The Terriers held off a late BC rally on Dec. 1 for a 4-2 win at home and the weekend sweep.
• It's the first time BC has dropped three consecutive games since Jan. 27-Feb. 6, 2010 ... the overtime loss at Northeastern was the program's first since a March 22, 2013 Frozen Four Semifinal loss to Minnesota.
• Makenna Newkirk leads the Eagles with 21 points on seven goals and a team-high 14 assists ... Megan Keller (7-13-20) is second overall while Daryl Watts (11-7-18) is third with her team-best 11 goals
• BC started Hockey East play 5-0-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

ABOUT MERRIMACK
• The Warriors go into Friday's game on a two-game losing streak after dropping both ends of a home-and-home to New Hampshire last weekend.
• Merrimack has six players with at least 10 points, with Katelyn Rae (13-6-18) leading the way ... Rae also as a team-high 67 shots on goal and +12 rating.
• Mikyla Grant-Mentis has notched two game winning goals.
• The Warriors have outshot every team in the third period through the last month of play.
• Merrimack is 1-4-0 in its last five games, falling twice to Providence (1-3, 3-5) before taking a Tuesday, Nov. 20 game against Quinnipiac (2-0).

BALANCED ATTACK
• BC has eight players in double-digit points, the most of any team in Hockey East and tied for the national lead with Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• Eight different players have scored game-winning goals for BC, which ties with Merrimack for the second most in Hockey East behind Northeastern (9).
• The Eagles have 18 players with at least one point and 15 players have scored at least one goal.
• Six players have scored at least four goals for the Eagles.

DEFENSE CHIPPIN' IN
• In addition to help Boston College sit tied for seventh in the country in goals against per game (1.72), the Eagles' defensive corps is first in the nation in points (54) and points per game (3.00) while sitting second in goals (13) and assists (41).
• The Eagles have three players in Megan Keller, Cayla Barnes and Grace Bizal that sit in the top 10 in the country in defensemen scoring, the most of any team ... Keller (7-13-20) leads all blue liners in points while Barnes (3-11-14) is tied for fifth and Bizal (2-10-12) is tied for eighth.
• Barnes is the only rookie blue liner to crack the top 10.
• BC defensemen have scored a nation-leading eight goals on the power play.
• Blue liners have scored four game-winning goals for BC, tied for most in the nation.
• The BC defense has chipped in on 23% of the squad's goals (13/56), 42% of the assists (41/98) and 35% of the overall points (54/154).

IT'S WORTH NOTING
• Freshman Kelly Browne is second amongst conference rookies in face-off wins with 162 (sixth overall) ... she led all freshman in the country in face-off wins in the month of November with 75.
• Caitrin Lonergan's .608 face-off winning percentage is fifth in the league.
• Daryl Watts is fourth in Hockey East with an average of 4.78 shots on goal per game while Lonergan is sixth with an average of 4.12.
• Cayla Barnes leads BC and sits tied for fifth in the conference with 28 blocks.
• Makenna Newkirk's 23 blocks leads all Hockey East forwards and is tied for 10th in the country.

DARYL HITS 100
• With her third period goal at Boston University on Dec. 1, Daryl Watts became the fourth sophomore and 19th player overall in program history to reach 100 career points.
• Watts potted 53 goals and 47 assists to reach 100 points in 56 career games played, making her the fastest BC player to reach that milestone in the modern NCAA era.
• Caitrin Lonergan reached 100 points in 69 games, third fastest in program history behind Erin Magee '99 (42 gms) and Alex Carpenter '16 (65 gms.).

Eagles Close Out Fall Semester with a Home-and-Home Against Merrimack

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Players Mentioned

Cayla Barnes

Grace Bizal

Kelly Browne

Megan Keller

Caitrin Lonergan

Makenna Newkirk

Daryl Watts