Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Senior Kelli Stack and sophomore Ashley Motherwell each netted two first period points, serving as the catalysts for the Boston College women's hockey team to defeat the University of Minnesota, 4-1, for the first time in school history and advance to the Frozen Four for the second time since the program's inception in 1994.
Senior goaltender Molly Schaus made 30 saves in the win.
"I thought our team came out with a bang," Head Coach Katie King said. "In that first period, we put pressure on them and that took care of the rest of the game. We played with a lot of energy, a lot of heart and did a phenomenal job doing the little things when we needed to. I'm extremely proud to be headed to Erie for the Frozen Four."
Motherwell opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the game. When senior Katelyn Kurth sent the puck around the boards, Minnesota goaltender Noora Raty mishandled it behind the net and Motherwell was there to punch it in.
Junior Mary Restuccia found freshman Melissa Bizzari at 2:25 to put BC up, 2-0.
The Eagles went up 3-0 at 8:16 in the first. Sophomore Blake Bolden and junior Danielle Welch worked the puck through the neutral zone and found Stack at the blue line. The Patty Kazmaier finalist skated through two defenders, deked Raty and put the puck past the sprawled-out goaltender.
Motherwell and Welch assisted Stack on her second goal, stretching the Boston College lead to four at 13:50 in the first.
The scoring ended when Sarah Erickson put Minnesota on the board at 11:45 in the second with Megan Bozek and WCHA Rookie of the Year Amanda Kessel assisting.
Boston College advances to play the winner of tonight's No. 1 Wisconsin/Minnesota-Duluth quarterfinal. The game is slated for 8:00 p.m. and is available to be streamed on UWBadgers.com.
Records: Boston College 24-6-6, 13-4-4 WHEA; Minnesota 26-10-2, 18-8-2 WCHA
Notes: BC defeated Minnesota for the first time in school history, improving to 1-3-1 in the all-time series...The Eagles advance to the second Frozen Four in program history (2006-07, 2010-11)...Boston College improves to 6-2-0 against opponents ranked in the nation's top-10....Schaus added another win to her school record, single-season total and is now 24-4-4.