Quinnipiac University
No. 1/1 Boston College
Connery's Late Goal, Laden's 28 Saves Lead No. 3/4 QU Women's Ice Hockey in 2-1 Loss to No. 1/1 Boston College
1/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
• Photos of Quinnipiac at Boston College
CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts – Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) scored a goal late in the third period for the No. 3/4 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team as they put up a hard-fought effort but fell just short to the nationally-ranked No. 1/1 Boston College Eagles, 2-1, Saturday afternoon at Conte Forum.
With 2:40 remaining in the third period, Connery created a turnover in the Boston College offensive zone and passed the puck behind the net to Morgan Fritz-Ward (Mason City, Iowa). Fritz-Ward shifted the puck to the left point where Emma Greco (Burlington, Ontario) fired a shot on net. Eagles' goaltender Katie Burt made the save but kicked the rebound out to Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) who found Connery on the back door to bang home the goal.
It was Connery's eighth goal and 20th point of the season for the Bobcats, as Woods picked up her ninth assist of the season and Greco recorded her third assist. Connery scored her first goal for the Bobcats since Nov. 22 against the St. Lawrence Saints.
Following a Boston College icing and timeout, Quinnipiac pulled goaltender Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minnesota) for the extra skater and had multiple scoring opportunities but Burt held on in goal for the Eagles to hang on for the 2-1 victory.
Both goaltenders played great games in the matchup of two of the top three teams in the country. Laden made a season high 28 saves on 30 shots in the loss for the Bobcats and made several key saves throughout the game to keep Quinnipiac within striking distance and Boston College from adding any more goals. Burt made 18 saves on 19 shots in the winning effort as she became the second goaltender, behind Laden, to record her 20th win of the season.
The Eagles were the sixth top-ranked team the Bobcats faced in their program history and first since 2008. Quinnipiac's record falls to 0-8-0 when played the top-ranked team.
Boston College (23-0-1, 15-0-0 WHEA) extended its unbeaten streak to 24 games and winning streak to 21 games with the win over Quinnipiac (20-3-3, 11-1-2 ECAC Hockey), who lost its second consecutive game and was shut out for the first time since the 2014 ECAC Semifinals last March.
Haley Skarupa led the Eagles with a two-point afternoon with a goal and an assist to give her 21 goals and 27 assists on the season. Alex Carpenter added her NCAA-best 24th goal of the season for the Eagles while Kenzie Kent, Andie Anastos and Toni Ann Miano each chipped in assists.
Carpenter gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead with 3:39 remaining in the first period after relentless defensive pressure by the Bobcats. Kenzie Kent skated into the slot with the puck but had it poked away. Skarupa collected the puck and fired a shot on goal where it was saved by Laden. The rebound kicked out to Carpenter on the right side of the crease and snuck the puck past Laden to give Boston College the lead.
Skarupa tallied her second point of the night with a goal to give Boston College a 2-0 lead over Quinnipiac with 14:26 remaining in the second period. Andie Anastos skated the puck from the neutral zone into the right faceoff circle towards the end line next to the goal. She spun and fired a pass to Skarupa just inside the faceoff circle near the slot where Skarupa one-timed the shot high glove side past Laden.
Connery cut the Eagles lead to one with her goal late in the third period but the Eagles were just able to hang on and defeat the Bobcats.
The Bobcats return to conference play for the rest of the season starting Friday, Jan. 30 when they host the Harvard Crimson at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center with puck drop scheduled for 7 P.M.
