Duluth, Minn. - The fourth-ranked Boston College women's ice hockey was defeated by top-ranked, defending champion Wisconsin, 6-2, on Friday night in AMSOIL Arena. Freshmen Emily Field and Alex Carpenter netted the goals for the Eagles (24-10-3). Junior goaltender Corinne Boyles stopped 32 shots, establishing a BC single-season saves record (927) in the process.
UW keeper Alex Rigsby totaled 22 saves and the Badgers (33-4-2) received two goals each from Brittany Ammerman and Hilary Knight to advance to the championship game on Sunday, March 16.
Field opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the game. Junior defenseman Blake Bolden avoided a fore-check by the Badgers and sent a pass off the boards to Field in the defensive zone. The rookie flicked the puck over the UW forward and hustled up ice, stick handling her way through the defense. Field moved through the right circle and put a sweeping shot on net that beat Rigsby five-hole, marking the Eagles' earliest goal of the season.
Brittany Ammerman evened the game, 1-1, at 6:44 in the first. Jordan Brickner and Madison Packer produced the movement that left Ammerman waiting in the slot for the equalizer.
The Badgers took the lead, 2-1, on a short-handed goal at 13:47. With the Eagles on the power play, puck was sent around the boards, but squeaked through BC along the wall. Carolyne Prevost broke past the Eagles and beat Boyles on the lower right side.
BC pelted Rigsby with some strong shots as the period progressed, but settled for a 9-7 shots advantage headed into the first intermission. Notable attempts included Field blasting Rigsby's face mask from five feet out and sophomore Taylor Wasylk making the net-minder flinch with her stick to keep UW up by one.
In a penalty littered second, the Eagles went 0-for-4 on the power play and killed off all three of Wisconsin's fourth ranked power play unit.
The Eagles succumbed to a two goal deficit at 1:34 in the second. An odd man rush ensued as the Eagles were pressuring in the offensive zone. Hillary Knight moved down the left side and opted for the shot that put UW up, 3-1.
A breakaway added to the Badgers lead at 17:21 in the second, 4-1. A clear from Rigsby found Kelly Jaminski, who then hit Ammerman in the right circle for the goal.
Brooke Ammerman scored at 7:46 in the third to put Wisconsin up 5-1. BC had just killed its sixth penalty of the night, when the forward netted the Badgers another point.
Two penalties on the Badgers near the midway point of the period awarded Boston College a 5-on-3 advantage.
With power play on, Carpenter beat Rigsby from the middle of the slot to move the score to 5-2. Bolden dished the puck to senior Mary Restuccia who found the North Reading, Mass. native for the goal.
Knight scored at 16:23 to complete the scoring. Brianna Decker left the puck for Knight at the point and the forward landed a shot in the top left corner.
Notes: Corinne Boyles broke Molly Schaus' single-season save record of 920 that was set in 2006-07...Mary Restuccia earned her sixth NCAA Tournament point, concluding her career as the all-time post season point getter in Eagles history (2-4-6)...Emily Field's goal at 00:57 in the first period was the earliest goal of the season for the Eagles...With the loss, BC falls to 0-5-0 in the all-time series against Wisconsin...the Class of 2012 concludes their career with a record of 78-43-24, the second most wins by a class at BC.
 Alex Carpenter scores BC's second goal |