BURLINGTON, Vt. - Vermont (7-21-2, 6-15-2 HE) battled to a 3-2 victory over #15 Boston College (18-11-1, 14-8-1 HE) on Saturday night from Gutterson Fieldhouse during the teams annual Rally Against Cancer game presented by Mascoma Bank. Rose-Marie Brochu set the tone early, scoring 44 seconds into the game, exploding for a three-point night to go along with a game winning goal from McKenzie Cerrato, and 29 total saves by Jane Gervais. With the win, the Catamounts now have four separate victories against top 15 nationally ranked teams.
COACH'S QUOTE
"That was a huge bounce back win from our team tonight," said Head Coach Jim Plumer. "Credit to our entire team for their resilience and ability to focus on the areas we needed to improve on from Thursday's game. Credit to Rosie Brochu for a monster game with two goals and an assist, and McKenzie Cerrato for the game winner. Jane Gervais stood tall in net, especially at the end. It's time for us to keep the momentum rolling for these last four games."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Vermont broke the ice just 44 seconds into opening puck drop, seeing Ashley Kokavec send a pass up ice to Oona Havana who had Brochu streaking down the far side with her for a two-on-one opportunity. Havana elected to dish a pass over to Brochu, who corralled the puck and outwaited Grace Campbell until she was completely out of position, burying the puck with her forehand for her third goal of the year, giving the Catamounts an early 1-0 lead.
- Boston College stormed back, scoring two goals less than a minute apart from each other to gain the 2-1 lead 7:15 into the first frame. Kate Ham tallied the Eagles first goal and Lauren Glaser notched the second.
- Similar to the start of the first period, Brochu scored once again just 42 seconds into the second frame, cashing in on a wraparound attempt for her second goal of the game, fourth of the season, knotting the score, 2-2.
- The Catamounts regained the lead 14:04 into the second period when a hard forecheck by Anna Podein resulted in Brochu and Cerrato breaking out of the corner with no defenders in front, seeing Brochu feed Cerrato in front. Cerrato gained possession of the puck, and rifled a wrist shot to the low right corner, scoring her first goal of the season and earning Vermont a 3-2 advantage.
- A scoreless third period that saw Gervais stop 12 shots throughout the entire final frame, including a breakaway opportunity for Boston College and a diving save in the final minute of action, resulted in Vermont skating away with the 3-2 victory on home ice, securing the fourth win against a ranked opponent this season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Brochu had a career game, earning her first career multi-goal game scoring two goals in the opening minute of both the first period and the second period. Brochu is up to four goals on the season, a new career high.
- Brochu also tallied an assist on the game winning goal, securing a three-point night, a new career high.
- Brochu won 18 of her 20 faceoffs taken, a tied game high. Evelyne Blais-Savoie also won 18 out of the 27 faceoffs she took.
- Cerrato scored the game winning goal for Vermont, her first goal of the season.
- Podein recorded her first point of the season, earning one assist against Boston College.
- Kokavec tallied one assist, putting her at nine total helpers on the season, tied for a team high.
- Havana registered one assist against the Eagles, putting her at five total points on the year.
- Kyla Bent and Brochu each notched a team high five shots on net.
- Gervais made 29 total saves to anchor the Catamounts to victory.
UP NEXT
Following the win over Boston College, Vermont will travel to Worcester, MA for a two-game weekend series with Holy Cross on Saturday (Feb. 15) and Sunday (Feb. 16), the team's final road weekend series of the regular season. Saturday's puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. while Sunday's start is slated for 3 p.m. Both matchups will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can also catch Sunday's action streaming live on TSN+.
