Nicole's NCAA Notebook: October 28, 2024

• Upsets abound! I'm beginning to think chaos is going to be the status quo and I'm thrilled. Boston College took down #3 Clarkson, Brown defeated #9 Quinnipiac AND #13 Princeton while Providence beat #14 Northeastern. Honorable mention to RIT, who tied #6 St. Lawrence, Post who beat Franklin Pierce and a good job, good effort to Minnesota State, who pushed #4 Minnesota to overtime before falling 3-2.
• Brown was absolutely delightful to watch this weekend and I believe they're only going to get better. They were creative with the puck, were passing like a dream and never gave up. There's a lot of unsung talent on that roster and they've been getting better year by year, but it's gone a little under the radar because the nature of the ECAC means it hasn't come with massive movement up the standings. Friday's game was won on the first two career goals by Monique Lyons, the last of which came with 2.4 seconds left in OT. She never quit and that gave her team the win.
• I said this on twitter (and forgive the snark BC friends) but what if Boston College just played like they did this weekend all the time? It was the most confident they've looked in several seasons and with that came some swagger. They were moving the puck, playing with pace, toe-dragging defenders and being decisive. There was no hesitancy and it led to a couple of beautiful goals. There has long been talent and potential on the Eagles' roster, but in recent years they've rarely been able to put it all together consistently. This weekend they showed what they're capable of. It wasn't a fluke. They didn't steal a win off a top-3 team - they were strong on the forecheck, out-skated the defense and make quick, smart decisions with the puck. Believe that this is who you are and keep playing like this, BC.
• Minnesota State put on a class on how to be pesky and stifling on defense without completely giving up on offense on Saturday. Often clogging up the middle, getting in passing lanes, blocking shots and working to keep the opponent to the perimeter means completely giving up on anything but the most basic offense, but Mankato has been able to balance that with being able to take off in transition and move the puck well in the offensive zone. Being able to find good looks and be ready for rebounds instead of just taking one shot and retreating has made them a much more difficult opponent. They frustrated the Gophers on defense and were just aggressive enough on offense. It was a good mix and I think someone a lot of teams could learn from.
• In case you were wondering, Ohio State's Makenna Webster scored the deciding penalty shot to give her field hockey team the win on Friday
• It felt like there was a LOT of early whistles this weekend. A goal for each team was called back in the Ice Breaker. There was one in the Brown game Friday that should have meant that game didn't need theatrics for them to earn a win. This is not something I feel like has been a massive issue before, but it felt really obvious this weekend that several crews were out of position or quick on the trigger. The goal is never to notice the officials and unfortunately they've been far too big a part of the story early on for me.
• There was a point on Saturday that I could have had four or five games on at once - they were all tied or one-goal and I wanted to know what was going to happen in each of them. We've been spoiled with so much good hockey and it's still only October. This week's schedule had few ranked matchups and at a glance it wasn't one I thought would provide this much great hockey. Goes to show that it's always worth tuning in.
• Goals you should see:

This is probably too many, but I couldn't chose and who doesn't love seeing gorgeous goals?

• This spin-a-rama pass from Margot Norehead to set up Monique Lyons' first career goal

• And Lyons' second career goal, to win the game with 2.4 seconds in OT

• In that vein, Cami Bell's second career goal for Yale (her 1st was earlier in the same game)

• The first of two bonkers goals from BC's Julia Pellerin and her stellar mitts

• And Pellerin again ...

• Goalie assist for Minnesota's Skylar Vetter!

• Another spin-a-rama, this time from BC's Alanna Devlin to Gaby Roy, who shows awesome strength, balance and skill to finish this off.