Minnesota-Duluth earned a series win via a 5-2 defeat of visiting Boston College.
“A great win for our program today,” UMD (1-0-1) coach Maura Crowell said. “I thought we controlled play from the get-go and had an outstanding second period. Our players came ready, playing the No. 3 team in the country and taking it to them was really impressive.”
The Eagles (0-1-1), after opening the season with 40 straight wins last year, are winless two games into this campaign after the squads skated to a 3-3 draw in Friday’s opener.
“Their team played hard,” BC coach Katie Crowley said. “For two days straight they played hard and played well, and they caught us at the right time when things would start going our way and then they’d put one in and kind of shut us down a little bit.”
Staked to a 1-0 lead after a first-period deflection by Demi Crossman, UMD exploded for four second-period tallies.
Senior defenseman Sidney Morin assisted on each of the first three goals for the Bulldogs.
“You never know what’s going to happen when you throw the puck at the net,” she said.
Ashleigh Brykaliuk had a goal and a helper on the heels of her hat trick on Friday, and Brooklyn Schugel netted her first career goal, and Lara Stalder and Katherine McGovern found the net.
“I’m very proud of the team —- the way they prepared, the way they executed, and the way they played for the whole game,” Crowell said.
To add injury to insult, BC starting goaltender Katie Burt and captain Andie Anastos were knocked out of the game.
“I thought we started playing better in the second, but then our captain gets hurt, our goaltender gets hurt,” Crowley said.
Boston College has played in a lot of games in recent years with a five-goal differential heading into the third period, but the Eagles don’t have much experience being on the wrong end of such scores.
“Overall, I think it’s a good weekend for us to learn, and go through some stuff, and have this hiccup at the beginning of the year, I think is good for us,” Crowley said.
The Eagles staged a late rally in the final six minutes with power-play goals by freshmen Caitrin Lonergan and Delaney Belinskas to deprive Maddie Rooney of a shutout.
Both teams host conference series next weekend, as Maine travels to Boston and the Bulldogs welcome Minnesota State.
“I think this was a statement weekend for us to the rest of the country, but within our locker room, we know we have something special,” Crowell said.
