Women’s hockey #1

WHockey

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.

Soccer run ends in Syracuse

Senior goaltender Alex Kapp makes one of his nine saves against Syracuse.

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 Meghan Grieves

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.