How the Huskies beat Boston College, 2-1, to win the Women’s Beanpot and clinch a tournament sweep for Northeastern

Northeastern University women’s hockey gears up to battle Boston College in the Beanpot final at the Kelley Rink. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Sixth-ranked Northeastern had much to celebrate on Tuesday, beginning with a 2-1 win over host Boston College in the final of the Women’s Beanpot.

The Huskies have now won a record 18 Women’s Beanpot titles. 

The victory came with the in-person backing of the DogHouse, the Northeastern band, President Joseph E. Aoun and members of the Northeastern men’s team. They engineered a noisy takeover of Conte Forum, making the Huskies feel as though they were on home ice.

The men’s team happened to bring along the Beanpot trophy they’d won Monday night at TD Garden—a serendipitous move as the women clinched a Northeastern sweep of the Beanpots for the second time since 2020.

Goals by Mia Brown and Maureen Murphy put the Huskies in charge over the first two periods. Gwyneth Philips made 27 saves for Northeastern, including 11 in the closing period as BC amped up its attack and her Northeastern fans roared their support from the stands behind her.

Philips was honored as top goaltender of the Women’s Beanpot, and Murphy was awarded Most Valuable Player.

BC tightened things on a Hannah Bilka goal with 1:34 remaining after pulling its goalie. But a short time later the Huskies were flinging away their helmets and sticks in a celebration reminiscent of TD Garden one night earlier.

The evening rendered a bit of revenge for the Huskies, who were upset last year by BC and its goalie Abigail Levy in a Beanpot semifinal at Matthews Arena. But it’s been a different story this season: The Beanpot victory makes Northeastern 4-0 against No. 16 BC (18-13-1) by a combined 9-1. 

The Huskies (28-2-1) have now won 16 straight since their last loss on Nov. 15. Once they’re done celebrating this one, they’ll turn to focusing on the Hockey East tournament. As the No. 1 seed, their next aim will be to win that trophy for a record sixth straight year—which will propel them to a third straight NCAA Frozen Four, they hope.

Only two schools have swept both Beanpots in the same year. Northeastern is the leader in this rare category with six sweeps dating back to 1980—the year of their initial men’s Beanpot championship.

The Huskies also earned Beanpot sweeps in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 2020.

Boston College is the other school to sweep both trophies, having done so in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

Huskies go up 2-0 on a second-period goal by Maureen Murphy

After going scoreless on a second-period power play and watching their goalie Gwyneth Philips make a couple of spectacular saves, the Huskies doubled their lead on a goal by Maureen Murphy in the eighth minute. The sequence began with an Alina Mueller pass to freshman defender Jules Constantinople, who threw in a heavily-screened lefty shot that Murphy redirected for her 18th goal of the season.

That score was preceded by a BC two-on-one early in the period. Katie Pyne made a sweet centering pass to Abby Newhook, whose point-blank shot was snuffed out by Philips.

The nation’s leading goalie then stopped a hard-charging shot on the break by BC co-captain Kelly Browne.

The Huskies are taking that two-goal lead into the third, having outshot BC 29-16 through the opening two periods.

Mia Brown power-play goal gives Huskies a 1-0 lead entering second period

The Huskies opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the 10th minute. Sophomore wing Skylar Irving skated behind goal before sending a post into the left circle, where approaching senior defender Megan Carter first-timed a shot that was redirected in front of goal by Mia Brown.

It was Brown’s seventh goal of the season.

And it came at the end of a strong power play by the Huskies, who had pelted BC goalie Abigail Levy with several credible efforts before Carter broke through with 10:40 remaining in the opening period.

The Huskies outshot BC 13-6 overall in the opening period.

The Northeastern men’s team arrived during the first period intermission with the Beanpot trophy they’d won Monday night at TD Garden. The players settled in with the DogHouse.

It’s a road game — but don’t tell the DogHouse

The DogHouse and the Northeastern band are joining forces in the end zone behind Northeastern goalie Gwyneth Philips, creating a raucous semblance of home-ice advantage for the Huskies in what should be a road game at Boston College. Picking up where they left off the night before at TD Garden, the Northeastern fans are quickly asserting themselves as the loudest group in Conte Forum.

Huskies are wearing black for their BC rematch

The Huskies are wearing black uniforms for the final as they seek their first Women’s Beanpot title since 2020—which also delivered Northeastern’s first sweep of the men’s and women’s tournaments in 32 years.

In spite of the success of their program, Beanpot victories have been hard for the Huskies to come by in recent years. Their 2020 championship is the Huskies’ only Women’s Beanpot title dating back to 2013.

In order to alter that trend, the Huskies must avenge their loss to BC in the semifinal of last year’s Beanpot. The driving force of that 3-1 upset was BC goalie Abigail Levy, who stopped 49 Northeastern shots. 

But the Huskies have good reason to be confident this time around: They’ve won all three Hockey East games against BC and Levy this season by a combined 7-0. The most recent meeting was a 1-0 Northeastern victory on Jan. 13 at Matthews Arena. Levy made 42 saves in that game before Chloé Aurard ended it with a goal in overtime.

No. 6 Northeastern vs. No. 16 Boston College in women’s final

No. 6 Northeastern (27-2-1) plays at No. 16 Boston College (18-12-1) in the Women’s Beanpot championship at 7:30 tonight.

A win by the Huskies would complete a Beanpot sweep for Northeastern, which defeated Harvard in Monday’s men’s final.

The game will be streamed live on NESN+ and ESPN+. Northeastern Global News will provide live updates throughout the game.

The Huskies, who advanced to the final with 4-1 win over Boston University, have won a record 17 Beanpot women’s titles. The host Eagles defeated Harvard, 3-0, in the other semifinal.

Northeastern arrived here with a 15-game winning streak thanks to a 3-2 overtime victory Friday at Connecticut. One year ago, the Huskies were hosting the Women’s Beanpot at Matthews Arena when they suffered a 3-1 semifinal upset to BC.

Tonight will be a showdown of the nation’s top goalies – Northeastern’s Gwyneth Philips (.959 save percentage) and BC’s Abigail Levy (.949). Philips leads the nation with a 0.84 goals-against average, while Levy ranks eighth at 1.68.

The Huskies are led offensively by their top-scoring line of Alina Mueller (44 points), Chloé Aurard (44) and Maureen Murphy (42).

Ian Thomsen is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email him at i.thomsen@northeastern.edu. Follow him on Twitter @IanatNU.