BOSTON — In front of a record-crowd at Agganis Arena, the No. 14 Boston University women’s hockey team fell in overtime, 3-2, to its arch rival, No. 11 Boston College, on Friday night.
BC sophomore forward Julia Pellerin won it 1:16 into the extra period on a backhanded shot from the slot that slid through BU goalie Callie Shanahan’s five-hole.
Three takeaways, plus a recap of how it happened, below:
BU totally belonged with the No. 11 team in the country.
Coming in, the trope that the Terriers’ magical start to the season was largely a product of wins against easy opponents still hadn’t been totally disproven. The Eagles, a conference powerhouse and a team that hadn’t lost in over a month, were destined to provide an answer.
Yeah. BU was completely fine.
In fact, the Terriers largely outplayed their rivals on home ice. And even when BU didn’t look good — in the first 10 minutes — it was because of unforced errors rather than the Eagles simply outplaying the Terriers.
Julia Shaunessy showed up.
The 6-foot-1 graduate captain was everywhere on Friday, disrupting BC rushes with critical pokes of the stick at multiple instances.
And when BU really needed it, the defender who loves to shoot delivered her best shot of the season to date, a perfectly placed wrister into the top corner that BC goalie Grace Campbell had no chance of saving. Shaunessy’s first goal of the season tied the game at 2-2 early in the second period.
She’s up to nine points on the season.
The game felt as big as it should have.
The announced attendance at Agganis was 2,866, a BU women’s hockey record that broke the previous high from 2012.
The Dog Pound — BU’s student section — was nearly full, and there was a significant number of fans throughout the rest of the arena. The crowd was loud and engaged all night long.
How it happened:
BU looked as sloppy as it has looked all season in the opening minutes, and at 5:35 of the first period, a deflected shot from BC junior Kate Ham snuck through Shanahan’s near post. The senior netminder — arguably BU’s most reliable player so far this season — was hugging the post, but the puck squirted through anyway.
The goal didn’t ignite the Terriers right away, as BU was called for two penalties in the following four minutes. But the home team killed both, then found some momentum at the end of the period.
BU took said momentum and ran with it in the second frame, equalizing at 1:17 through junior forward Sydney Healey, who’s shot from the circle on the power play, took a deflection and left BC goalie Grace Campbell out to dry. The Eagles immediately responded when sophomore defender Molly Jordan tapped in a wide-open rebound exactly a minute later.
It turned out that was just the kind of period it would be, as BU graduate captain Julia Shaunessy equalized again a minute and a half later, on a perfectly placed wrister from the Hockey East logo.
The rest of the second was similarly end-to-end, but the Terriers kept up, heading into the second intermission leading in shots on goal, 19-17.
BU looked like the better team in the third period, but couldn’t find the back of the net despite leading in shots, 12-5.
Junior defender Maeve Kelly and junior forwards Luisa and Lilli Welcke started the overtime 3 on 3 for the Terriers, but an excellent chance for the Welcke’s on an odd-skater rush came and went before Pellerin ended it.
This story will be updated.
