CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Grad student Annie Berry (Milton, Mass.) recorded two goals and two assists to lead the University of New Hampshire women's hockey team to a 6-4 win against Boston College in Saturday's afternoon's regular-season finale at Conte Forum.
With the win, UNH completed the weekend sweep of the Eagles to secure the No. 3 seed in the Hockey East tournament. The Wildcats will play a March 2 (6 p.m.) quarterfinal against the University of Vermont at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex.
Berry finished with two goals and two assists to record her first career multiple-goal game, tie her personal best in assists and tally a career high of four points. Kira Juodikis (LaSalle, Ontario) and Shea Verrier (Reading, Mass.) both scored two goals and Sydney Leonard (St. Bonifacius, Minn.) also had a multiple-point game with two assists.
UNH goaltender Sedona Blair (Eden Prairie, Minn.), the reigning Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week in Hockey East, made 11 of her 25 saves in the first period.
BC goalie Grace Campbell was credited with 21 saves. Abby Newhook and Katie Pyne both tallied a goal and an assist for the Eagles.
UNH ends the regular season on a four-game winning to improve to 17-15-2 overall and 14-11-2 in Hockey East. BC is now 14-13-7, 13-9-5.
FIRST PERIOD
- Both teams scored twice in the opening 20 minutes with BC generating a 13-11 shot advantage.
- Berry scored off her own rebound to give UNH a 1-0 lead at 1:52 with assists going to Jada Christian (East Caledon, Ontario) and Leonard.
- BC's Sammy Taber scored 47 seconds later, however, to tie the score.
- Newhook's tally gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead at 8:46.
- Berry struck again at 12:37 to lift the Wildcats into a 2-2 tie. Leonard was credited with the assist.
SECOND PERIOD
- New Hampshire outscored the hosts 3-1 in the second period with a 9-7 shot advantage.
- Juodikis' power-play goal at 6:42 ignited a 3-0 that gave the 'Cats a lead they would not relinquish. Marina Alvarez (Center Moriches, N.Y.) and Sadie Makokis (St. Albert, Alberta) set up the go-ahead tally.
- Verrier extended the lead to 4-2 at 10:02 and scored what proved to be the game-winning goal when she gave UNH a 5-2 advantage at 16:57.
- Tamara Thiérus (Saint-Jérôme, Quebec) and Berry set up Verrier's first goal and Rae Breton (Brighton, Ontario) earned the assist on the game-winner.
- Pyne trimmed the margin to 5-3 at 17:32.
THIRD PERIOD
- Both teams netted a third-period goal as BC had a 9-7 shot advantage.
- Gaby Roy lifted BC within a goal, 5-4, at 2:26.
- UNH went on the power play at 15:21 and Juodikis, with the assistance of Brooke Hammer (Commerce Township, Mich.) and Berry, scored 22 seconds later to reestablish a two-goal margin, 6-4.
- The Eagles began a power play and pulled Campbell in favor of an extra skater with 2:56 remaining to gain a 6-on-4 advantage.
- Blair turned aside a shot by Sammy Smigliani at 18:02 and then denied Caroline Goffredo at 18:51.
- The Wildcats didn't allow another shot on target the rest of the way to secure the win and No. 3 seed in the league tourney.
GAME NOTEBOOK
- Boston College finished with the 29-27 shot advantage and a 27-18 edge in the faceoff circle.
- UNH scored on 2 of 5 power plays and the Wildcats' penalty kill was successful on all three BC power plays.
- The Wildcats were credited with 15 blocks in comparison to the Eagles' 10.
UNH NOTEBOOK
- Berry recorded three goals and three assists in the weekend series vs. BC.
- Blair now has 874 saves on the season, which ranks second all-time on UNH's single-season leaderboard. The single-season record is 886 set by then-freshman Ava Boutilier in 2018.
- Leonard recorded her first career multiple-assist game to match her high of two points.
- Verrier matched her career high of two goals.
- Juodikis extended her point streak to four games, during which time she has four goals and two assists for six points.
- Juodikis scored both goals on the power play.
- She has four multiple-goal games this season and 10 career. Juodikis now has eight multiple-point games in 2024 and 19 career.
- Nicole Kelly (Brantford, Ontario) led UNH in both faceoff wins (eight) and blocks (three).
- This is UNH's longest win streak of the season.
- New Hampshire scored a season-high six goals in the season opener vs. St. Anselm and again in the regular-season finale vs. BC.
- Seventeen wins is UNH's highest total since the 2020 team had 18.
- The 14 Hockey East wins are the most since the 2009 squad had 16.
SERIES NOTEBOOK
- New Hampshire has a 53-32-7 lifetime record against Boston College.
- UNH went 2-0-1 against BC this season and is unbeaten the past four meetings (3-0-1).
- The Wildcats skated to a 3-1 win Feb. 23 on Senior Night at the Whitt.
- The 'Cats and Eagles skated to a 2-2 tie at the Whitt back on Jan. 13. UNH won the shootout, 1-0, in seven rounds to earn the extra point in the league standings.
- The last time the 'Cats were unbeaten in a season series vs. BC was in 2009, when they also won two of three meetings and tied the other.
