Category Archives: Sports

Women win Beanpot

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BC’s #4-ranked women’s hockey team won its 3rd straight Beanpot Tuesday, beating BU 5-4 in overtime. Freshman Daryl Watts, leading scorer nationally, scored 2 goals, including the game-tying goal with 4:08 remaining in regulation, and was named the Beanpot Most Valuable Player. Toni Ann Miano scored the game-winning goal.

Goalie Katie Burt made 35 saves in the final, 71 in the tournament, and won the Bertagna Award as top goalie.

The men’s team repeated a rare 0-2 record in this year’s Beanpot, getting shut out, 0-3, by eventual champion Northeastern in the opening round and losing to Harvard 4-5 in Monday’s final. It was only the 8th time BC has failed to win a Beanpot game and 43 years since the Eagles have done so in consecutive years.

Freshman Logan Hutsko scored a hat trick in the 3rd period against Harvard, his last 2 goals bringing the game to overtime. Lutsko had scored 2 goals in the previous game against UMass Lowell last week.

Iced

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Yankee Stadium, in football mode. Photo by Ben Solomon.

The Eagles dominated the first half of play in terms of statistics, but were unable to parlay that advantage to a win in the Pinstripe Bowl against Iowa on December 27, falling 27-20.

BC ran 40 plays in the first half, compared to Iowa’s 23, and gained 281 yards in offense, while the Hawkeyes managed only 56 yards. (Iowa did average just under 39 yards on 3 kickoff returns, providing a shorter field.) Star running back AJ Dillon himself more than doubled the Iowa offense, gaining 126 yards rushing, including a 66-yard run. But the Eagles led by only 7, 17-10, at halftime.

Both teams, obviously, played under the same field conditions, which were terrible. With temperatures in the 20s and feeling like the mid-teens, the field was frozen. Players fell when trying to cut and their feet often slipped when simply trying to start movement. Maybe it’s because one is a BC fan, but it seemed the Eagles had more trouble with the conditions.

(Major football fields exposed to the elements have heating systems that prevent freezing or use artificial material that is less effected by temperature. Yankee Stadium, built as a baseball facility, has natural grass and no heating system.)

Freshman AJ Dillon ran for 157 yards. Photo by Ben Solomon.

In the second half, BC fortunes slipped and slid. The Eagles managed only 102 yards in offense, punting on their first 3 possessions in the half and giving up a fumble and interception on two of their last three possessions. A 24-yard field goal by Colton Lichtenberg was BC’s only score in the half.

Junior tight end Tommy Sweeney had a career high 7 receptions for 137 yards and scored a touchdown. Dillon added just 31 yards to his rushing total in the second half, finishing with 157 for the game. His season total climbed to 1,589, highest ever for a BC freshman and fourth best season total in BC history.

The Eagles finished 7-6. BC’s bowl game record under Coach Steve Addazio fell to 1-3.

BC’s 2018 season opens September 1 at home against UMass, followed a week later at home against Holy Cross. The BC-Holy Cross game will be the first football game between the historic rivals since 1986.

Bundled BC fans. Photo by Ben Solomon.

More than two dozen San Diego Eagles watched the game in much more comfortable conditions than the fans above.

Hawkeyes . . . in New Yawk!

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Boston College will play the University of Iowa in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium. This was perhaps the most attractive option for which the Eagles were being considered — strong alumni presence, noted but not great team. Iowa defeated Ohio State 55-24 in early November, but finished the season 7-5, same record as BC.