BOSTON - The No. 8 women's ice hockey team fell to cross-town rival Boston College, 2-1, in its conference home opener Monday night at Walter Brown Arena. The loss puts the Terriers at 1-1-0 in conference play and 3-2-4 overall while the Eagles improve to 2-2-4 on the season, including a 1-1-1 conference mark.
The Terriers and Eagles entered the third period knotted at one-apiece but a BC strike just 3:11 into the period ended up being the deciding score. Allie Thunstrom, who scored BC's first goal, fed freshman Ashley Motherwell in front of the right faceoff circle and the rookie stuffed the puck past BU goalie Melissa Haber for the eventual game-winner.
Haber finished the night with 14 saves while BC goalie Corinne Boyles stopped 27 shots in a solid performance.
A quiet first period saw the Eagles nearly take a 1-0 lead as a Laura Hart slapshot trickled past Haber, but the Terrier defense swarmed on net and was able to clear the puck. Haber went on to stop two more shots in the period.
The Eagles took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Terriers and jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Mary Restuccia fed Allie Thunstrom in stride and the senior forward bested Haber on a one-on-one to put the guests up 7:36 into the second period.
The Eagles' goal woke up the Terrier offense and BU managed to equalize just 48 seconds later. Melissa Anderson carried the puck into the zone and put a shot on net that deflected off BC goalie Corinne Boyles to Jill Cardella who flipped home the rebound for her fourth score of the season.
The assist by Anderson gives her 100 points on her career and she now stands just two points shy of Gina Kearns' all-time mark of 102. Anderson also upped her program-leading career assist total to 63 with the helper. Cardella leads all BU rookies with four goals and six points on the season.
BU was unable to answer BC's second tally, despite a deflection from Laurel Koller that hit the pipe and bounced clear of the crease in the final minutes of regulation.
The Terriers are back in action in Friday, Nov. 6 in the front end of a home-and-home series against Hockey East powerhouse New Hampshire. Friday's game at Walter Brown is scheduled for 7 p.m.