For the second straight game, Andie Anastos was the hero for Boston College.
The senior forward scored 5:44 into overtime Sunday, giving BC a 2-1 win over Northeastern in the women’s Hockey East tournament final at Walter Brown Arena. The Eagles wouldn’t have had the chance to repeat as conference champions if not for Anastos’s double-overtime goal that beat Vermont in Saturday’s semifinals.
Anastos was named tournament MVP.
“It’s cool,” she said of the award. “Everyone worked so hard, everyone played so well.”
“This year we’ve been through so much and there’s not a group that deserves it more than this one,” said BC coach Katie Crowley. “I’m really excited, they played hard, even after that first period, where we came out a little slow.”
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Northeastern (22-12-3) had 10 of the first 11 shots in the game, and sophomore Kasidy Anderson put the Huskies in front by outskating BC defenseman Megan Keller on a breakaway goal with 2:37 left in the first.
NU’s Halle Silva took a tripping penalty 2:46 into the second period and BC capitalized with junior Kali Flanagan tallying her fifth goal of the season.
BC (27-5-5) nearly took the lead late in the third period when a shot by junior Kenzie Kent rang off the post and the rebound was just out of Keller’s reach.
In overtime, Anastos entered the zone and scored her 15th goal of the season through traffic in front of the goal. It came on her sixth shot of the game.
Watch the whole play. Good thing @Andie_Anastos was a pretty good hoops player to jump & keep the puck in for the winner. Right @buccigross? pic.twitter.com/WZwzViNJtq
— BC Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey) March 5, 2017
“It’s exciting to be able to play with an amazing senior class and be led by our captain Andie, it’s hard to score two OT goals,” said Keller. “We have one more to go, one more trophy, so it’s an exciting run and I’m proud of this team, I think we’re getting hot right when we need to be.”
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The Eagles outshot NU, 7-0, in overtime. After being outshot, 13-8, in the opening period, BC finished with a 33-32 edge in shots.
“They did a good job taking away time and space,” said NU coach Dave Flint. “I thought they got better as the game went on, in their own end they moved the puck quick, we were just trying to get the puck on net.”
By winning the conference, BC earned an automatic bid to the eight-team NCAA tournament. The fourth-seeded Eagles will host St. Lawrence Saturday at 1 p.m.
“Obviously we want to get back there [to the Frozen Four],’’ said Anastos, “and we’re going to work as hard as we can to get there.”
