Northeastern will meet Boston University at TD Garden in a rematch of last year’s historic final. In Tuesday’s semifinal, the Huskies scored three first-period goals before a record Matthews Arena crowd.
The Northeastern Huskies positioned themselves for a third straight Women’s Beanpot title — and a record 20th overall — with a 4-2 win over Boston College Tuesday night.
A trio of first-period goals were celebrated by a record Matthews Arena women’s hockey crowd of 3,298 — a compacted version of last year’s historic final at TD Garden where 10,633 saw Northeastern knock off Boston University, 2-1, in overtime on a goal by Skylar Irving.
One year later, Irving and her Huskies have earned their return to the final next Tuesday night at TD Garden. Waiting there once again will be BU — a 2-1 OT winner over Harvard in the early semifinal Tuesday.
“The biggest thing that helped us was the crowd,” said longtime Northeastern coach Dave Flint. “In 17 years I’ve never seen a crowd like that here at Matthews — and so credit to all our fans who came out and supported us, really pushed the team and helped us get the win.”
Northeastern (14-6-1), No. 8 nationally in the Pairwise rankings, has now won five straight since its 3-0 loss to BC on Nov. 30.
The Northeastern goals were scored by a quartet of Huskies over the first two periods. Northeastern freshman goalie Lisa Jönsson made 37 saves as the frantic Eagles outshot their hosts, 31-19, after the opening period.
“She rose to the occasion,” Flint said of Jönsson, crediting her big saves with maintaining the Huskies’ two-goal advantage in the second period. “The pressure of being a freshman in that situation is huge in front of a crowd like that. That’s a lot to handle, and that shows she’s a big-time goalie.”
The Huskies needed just a few minutes to get their act together against BC (14-7-1), which is ranked 11th in the Pairwise. After killing off a second-minute penalty, Northeastern began attacking in waves.
Freshman Morgan Jackson opened the scoring with a 10th-minute blast. Her goal was bookended 56 seconds later by senior captain Taze Thompson, who brought the puck behind the net and fired in the return pass for a 2-0 Northeastern advantage. Irving and Jules Constantinople provided the assists.
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Not only was this Thompson’s fifth goal at the Beanpot overall, it furthered her chances of remaining undefeated in the tournament. She had scored four times while winning the last three Beanpots with Harvard and Northeastern, where she transferred in 2022.
The Huskies went up, 3-0, on a power-play goal by senior Tory Mariano — her first of the season — with 5:58 remaining in the opening period. The inspiring environment at the world’s oldest multipurpose arena added to the moment.
“We’ve never had a crowd like that,” Mariano said.
BC earned some hope on a Sammy Taber goal with 18 seconds remaining to make it 3-1 heading into the middle period.
The Eagles had an opportunity to pull within a goal via a power play in the final minutes of the second period, but junior Lily Shannon turned a steal into a shorthanded goal — beating junior goalie Grace Campbell (27 saves) to the far side to give Northeastern an affirming 4-1 lead entering the final intermission.
“That was a huge, huge goal for us,” Flint said.
BC finished the scoring on a Gaby Roy power-play goal with 1:11 remaining.
Thanks to the urgency of BC’s closing two periods — “they gave us everything we could handle,” said Flint — the Huskies will be facing a big task in the week ahead. An away-and-home series with Hockey East rival Providence College on Friday and Saturday will precede the Beanpot final.
“We expended a lot of energy tonight, a lot of emotions,” Flint said. “It’s tough because now you’ve got to turn your focus on two league games against a good opponent and put the Beanpot in the back of your mind. It’s going to be four games in seven days.”
Whatever may come in the week ahead, this splendid evening at Matthews will be remembered by Flint and his players.
“It gave me chills there at the beginning,” he said of the enthusiasm that has built around his program. “I was just really, really proud of the university for stepping up.”