The BC women’s hockey team, undefeated in its first 20 games, is ranked #1 in the country. The Eagles had been stuck at #2 for many weeks, behind either Minnesota or Wisconsin, but both of them have suffered defeats and BC has taken the lead.
Men’s hockey, also previously #2 in the land, took the opposite direction. After a 4-3 loss to Notre Dame, the Eagles (13-2-1) (6-1-1) fell to #4.
Both hockey teams are on a semester/holiday break. The men play in the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla., December 28-9, opening against Ohio State. The following night they play either Cornell or #1 Providence. BC opens 2016 with two two-game series against Providence January 8-9 and then BU January 15-16. The women don’t play until January 9, when they start 2016 against BU.
Senior goaltender Alex Kapp makes one of his nine saves against Syracuse.
BC’s men’s soccer team reached the Elite Eight, the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, for the second time ever, but the run for a title ended in a 1-0 loss yesterday at Syracuse.
The Eagles has beaten three teams in the tournament, including top-seeded Georgetown, to reach the quarterfinals. Senior goaltender Alex Kapp made nine saves in the Syracuse game, in which the Orange outshot BC 16-6.
BC finishes the season with an 11-8-2 record. The Eagles are a very young team, with 14 freshmen on the 25-man roster.
Other sports
The #2-ranked women’s hockey team advanced to 19-0 (13-0) with a weekend sweep of Maine. In the first of two games, BC senior Alex Carpenter established the Hockey East career scoring record, exceeding the standard set by two others, including Kelli Stack ’11.
Senior forward Maghan Grieves
Men’s hockey suffered only its second blemish of the season, this time a 3-3 tie with Northeastern yesterday, but recovered today with a 4-3 win over the Huskies. BC improved to 13-1-1 (6-0-1).
Men’s basketball fell to 3-5 (0-0) with a disheartening loss today to UMass Lowell, 68-66. The Eagles were ahead 61-54 with four minutes remaining, but Lowell scored 11 straight points in the next 44 seconds to take a 65-61 lead with 3:15 left and held on for the win.
Women’s basketball improved to 6-1 with an upset of Purdue in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.
In a season-ending match-up of two 3-8 teams, BC lost to Syracuse, 20-17, on a game-ending field goal. The close score and climactic conclusion belied what was, as the opening clause said, a game between two mediocre teams.
Neither team reached 250 yards total offense. Each team had more yardage in punts. Syracuse had 18 more plays than BC, but gained two fewer yards in total offense. The Eagles, however, surpassed the Orange in offensive ineptitude.
Of BC’s 239 yards total offense, 230 were gained on the ground. Quarterback Jeff Smith led the team in rushing with 117 yards, but was 1-13 passing for 9 yards, and two interceptions. The team overall had 11 penalties for 119 yards, a season high and particularly troubling in a final game.
The Eagles scored first to go up 7-0 in the first quarter. Syracuse took the halftime lead, 10-7, and both teams scored touchdowns in the third quarter within a minute of each other to make the score 17-14 going into the final quarter. BC kicked a field goal to tie the score with less than 3 minutes left, but Syracuse then drove 51 yards to set up the game-winning field goal.
How to sum up the 2015 season? Two wins to open the season — both over FCS schools, including a 76-0 wipeout of Howard — a 14-0 loss to Florida State, a 17-14 win over Northern Illinois, followed by 8 consecutive ACC losses. Against FBS teams, BC never scored more than 17 points in a game and averaged 10.6 points per game. The victory over Northern Illinois, a Middle America Conference team, was BC’s sole win over a FBS conference school. This is the first time BC has been winless in the ACC and the 8-game losing streak is the longest since 1978.
Highlights
Next Game Watch
We’ll be checking television schedules, but right now it looks like the next opportunity will be the Beanpot Final, Monday, Feb. 8. Won’t know until the previous Monday if BC will be in that final. Stay tuned!
Other sports
Men’s soccer is in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and will play Syracuse. BC beat #3 Georgetown today on penalty kicks. Regulation finished 1-1, and there were no goals in two overtime periods. BC scored on all five penalty kids to four for Georgetown.
#2 Men’s hockey won its 11th straight, beating RIT 6-2, to reach 12-1. #2 Women’s hockey elevated its win streak to 17, beating Providence 9-1 and Northeastern 6-1 this week.
Men’s basketball fell to 3-2, with losses to Michigan State 68-99 and UC Irvine 67-80. Women’s basketball beat Utah 76-51, but suffered its first loss to #21 Oklahoma 61-76 and has a 5-1 record.
Volleyball had a tough season (12-20, 4-16), but ended nicely with a 3-2 win over Notre Dame.
