HAMDEN, Conn. — Shiann Darkangelo netted the game-winning goal with 2:03 remaining in the game to propel the No. 7/9 Quinnipiac Bobcats over the No. 5 Boston College Eagles Friday afternoon at the High Point Solutions Arena.
Kelly Babstock had the puck on the left boards and was waiting for Darkangelo to get open before she sent the centering feed through the slot for Darkangelo to backhand past the glove of Boston College goaltender Corinne Boyles for the game-winner.
“[Babstock] was creating time and space for her, she didn’t have a lot of space but she battled through the check and got her stick on the puck,” Quinnipiac coach Rick Seeley said. “It was just phenomenal effort, a phenomenal goal.”
The Bobcats (9-1-3, 3-1-2 ECAC) had given up the game-tying goal just five minutes earlier when Andie Anastos sent the rebound off a Kristyn Capizzano shot from the left side of the crease past sprawling Quinnipiac netminder Chelsea Laden for the power-play goal.
Cydney Roesler was whistled for a double minor on a body-checking penalty which set up the man advantage for the Eagles (9-3-0, 5-1-0 WHEA). Both teams scored a goal each on the power-play.
“It was a huge goal and I like that our team was able to come back and make that happen,” Boston College coach Katie King Crowley said. “Obviously when you have a power play at the end of the game down by one, it’s a good opportunity and I thought our kids did a good job staying focused and being able to put that in.”
Despite getting outshot in the first period, Boston College took a 1-0 lead when Capizzano took the rebound from a scrum in front of the net and backhanded the puck past Quinnipiac goaltender Chelsea Laden.
“We outshot them by quite a bit in the first,” Seeley said. “I think we were too impressed with their ranking and giving them a little too much respect and I thought we started playing our game in the second and took control of the game.”
The Bobcats outshot the Eagles 11-6 in the first, but just 27-24 in the game, as Boston College applied pressure late in the game with a strong forecheck.
“I thought it was a good hockey game,” King Crowley said. “I thought we let some chances go by in that first period that we should have buried pucks. I thought it could have been a different game if we put some of those in.”
Quinnipiac responded late in the second period when Darkangelo scored her first goal of the game when she took a pass from Babstock and skated behind the goal to score the wraparound goal five-hole on Boyles.
With just 53 seconds remaining in the second period, Amanda Colin scored on a power play after Morgan Fritz-Ward passed her the puck from in front of the crease to the left side, where Colin tapped the shot into the wide open left side of the net.
“In that second period, it didn’t seem like we had nearly as many opportunities offensively, so the second period was a little bit of a downer for our team I think, but then we did come back and played harder in the third,” Crowley said.
Boston College tied the game on the goal from Anastos before Darkangelo answered with the game-winning goal for Quinnipiac.
“I saw a maturation that’s pretty impressive; I thought when they scored, we didn’t flinch, we worked hard, killed off the next penalty and attacked the rest of the game,” Seeley said. “They didn’t have much of a chance until about a second left in the game; other than that, I thought they were pretty solid.”
