The Boston Pride Hold Off Boston College
Pride celebrate during third period of game against BC (Luis Sanchez/MyWSports)
Chestnut Hill, MA – The Boston Pride played the first hockey game of the 2016-17 season on Thursday night, defeating the third-ranked Boston College Eagles, 3-2 in an exhibition game.
Returning back to BC were former Eagles, Maggie Taverna (’09), Blake Bolden (’13), Emily Field (’15), Lexi Bender (’16) and 2015 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Alex Carpenter (’16). The Pride started all five Eagles to begin the game while Brittany Ott (Maine ’13) got the start in net.
The Pride controlled play in the first period, outshooting BC 11-2. Just over seven minutes into the contest, Brianna Decker split two Eagle defenders and wristed one past Katie Burt to give the Pride a 1-0 lead.
Freshman Caitrin Lonergan and junior Megan Keller scored for Boston College, while Brianna Decker, Alex Carpenter and Gigi Marvin scored the Pride's three goals.
In the second, BC would storm back when freshman Caitrin Lonergan put home a rebound in front of Brittany Ott to equalize the matchup at one. Although the Eagles outshot the Pride 12-4 in the period, Alex Carpenter with 42 seconds left buried the one-timer past Burt to put the Pride ahead 2-1 before the end of the period.
Gigi Marvin scores in game against BC (Luis Sanchez/MyWSports)
In the final period of play, Gigi Marvin lined up a shot from the blue line that snuck under Burt to give the Pride a 3-1 advantage with under 15 minutes to go. BC would again respond with five minutes left when Kenzie Kent found Megan Keller to bring the deficit to one.
The Eagles would pull Burt with two minutes left but a penalty for too many players on the ice would spoil their comeback bid. The Pride outshot the Eagles 25-20 in the game and finished 1-4 on the power play.
Boston College finished last season 40-1-0, the lone loss coming in the NCAA National Championship against the University of Minnesota. The Eagles were picked to finish first in the Hockey East preseason poll this season and were awarded a national ranking of third in the country. Although the Eagles did lose firepower from last season in Alex Carpenter, Haley Skarupa and Dana Trivigno, all now playing in the NWHL, the team looks to continue its recent success when their season officially begins next weekend on the road against Minnesota Duluth.
Brianna Decker scored the first goal for the Pride in 3-2 win (Luis Sanchez/MyWSports)
The Boston Pride, reigning Isobel Cup Champions, will most certainly have a target on their back in year two of NWHL play. After finishing 14-0-1-3 in the inaugural season and sweeping both opponents in the playoffs the Pride look to build off of last season.
Boston welcomes back most of last years’ rosters, including the most lethal line in the NWHL, Hilary Knight, Jordan Smelker and Brianna Decker. Along with the re-signings, Boston also made major offseason acquisitions with Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter joining the team this season.
The Pride will play one more exhibition against Team Russia at their new home, Warrior Arena, Saturday night before NWHL Opening weekend Oct 7-9 at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, NY.
Follow Luis Sanchez on Twitter @Luis_MyW
