CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — When the final buzzer sounded during Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the No. 2 Boston College Eagles and St. Lawrence Saints, a number flashed ominously from the auxiliary scoreboards in the corners of Conte Forum.
It was four, the number of goals the Saints put past Eagles goalie Katie Burt. What made the number so ominous was its historical significance. The Eagles have allowed four goals in only three games in the previous two seasons.
Yet the Eagles were celebrating. Unlike two of the three games in the aforementioned set preceding Sunday’s game, the Eagles emerged victorious 7-4 thanks to two goals by Megan Keller and five points from Alex Carpenter.
“It was an ugly win,” BC coach Katie Crowley said. “I think we need to clean things up a bit.”
The Eagles largely dominated the first period in terms of offensive chances, boasting a 19-3 shot differential in the period.
Trailing 1-0 on a Toni Ann Miano goal for the Eagles, the Saints fell victim to a storm of bad decision-making, taking three penalties in the span of 2:03. Even with a prolonged five-on-three chance, the Eagles were able to post only one power-play goal, a quick shot from Keller in the waning seconds of the first period.
After the intermission, Alex Carpenter quickly scored an even-strength goal for a 3-0 lead. The Saints, however, responded.
Nadine Edney, a freshman, did not have a point to her name going into Sunday afternoon’s contest. Neither did her linemate Lydia Grauer. Yet following the Carpenter goal, the two combined for a one-time goal scored by Edney to give the duo their first points and their team its first goal. From that point, the game became markedly different.
“I think that we probably tried to take things into our hands instead of using our teammates a little bit,” Crowley said. “When we turn over pucks in the neutral zone then they are going to come on the attack, and that’s a team that is going to be on the attack.”
The Saints seized the opportunities to be on the attack. Kennedy Marchment tipped a shot from Dominique Korakianitis minutes after the Edney goal, and suddenly the Saints were within one goal halfway through the game.
While a goal by Haley Skarupa put the Eagles back up by two, the damage had been done, and the tone had been set for the third.
The Saints’ Achilles’ heel for the game, the number of penalties that the team took, manifested early in the third. Following an Amanda McClure penalty early, Keller gave the Eagles some padding, as did Tori Sullivan only seconds later.
Yet the Saints answered with two goals of their own, by Lydia Grauer and Abbey McRae, reaching the four-goal total that has been a rarity against the Eagles.
While Makenna Newkirk scored an empty-net goal to seal things for the Eagles (3-0), it was a game that did not end without uneasiness. The last time they allowed four goals, they lost the 2015 Hockey East championship to Boston University.
The loss dropped the Saints to 0-4-1, with another game against the Eagles scheduled for Monday.
