Boston College Women Open Hockey East Play with Win Over Holy Cross

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Freshman standout Ava Thomas also continued her torrid start to the season, having a hand in three goals as the Boston College women's hockey team blended youth and experience perfectly in a 4-2 victory over Holy Cross in the home and conference opener Friday night.

On the other end of the Conte Forum, it was the calming veteran presence of senior netminder Grace Campbell that kept the Crusaders at bay as the Eagles protected leads throughout much of the game.

Holy Cross got an early opportunity, going on the powerplay just two and a half minutes into the contest after Sage Babey was called for a high stick near the boards. Despite the numbers advantage, the Crusaders were helpless as the Eagles led an odd-women rush, capped off by a Kate Ham goal assisted by captain Jade Arnone and Ava Thomas.

Midway through in the first period, Boston College benefitted from a whistle as Hope Kenzee made her way to the penalty box for a cross check. The Eagle’s special teams continued to click as after being set up by a pass from Thomas, Madelyn Murphy threw a shot on net from just within the blue line, using a fortunate bounce off a Crusader defender to put one past Abby Hornung for her first career goal.

First of many!! pic.twitter.com/e7nEiQao6F
— Boston College Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey) October 10, 2025

Holy Cross cut the deficit in half just before the first intermission, as Amanda Aslan put a rebound past Campbell after the senior made two point-blank saves but was left helpless as her blue liners couldn’t clear the zone.

Early in the second period, it appeared imminent that the Crusaders would knot the game up as they were living in the Boston College defensive zone for the first three minutes, continuing to fire shots on Campbell. Against the run of play, Murphy hit Thomas on a long stretch pass as the forward took the zone herself and found a way to finish despite a lack of support and a pair of defenders in front of her. The Jr. Flyers product worked her way up the right side, before using a burst of speed to get a step on her defender and bank a wrister off the goaltender to push the lead back to two.

Ava Thomas is HER pic.twitter.com/s0dA7BWY2e
— Boston College Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey) October 10, 2025

Both defenses settled in, as neither team would find the back of the net for the next 23 minutes, until a barrage of shots finally broke Campbell down, with LuLu Rourke pulling Holy Cross within one with just under six minutes left. Skylar Sharfman was credited with the assist in her first game against the Eagles since departing the heights this offseason.

With the pressure on, Boston College stepped up its physicality and aggressiveness to help see out the game. Strong play in the neutral zone helped limit offensive chances for the Crusaders and the few times they did enter the zone, the Eagles’ skaters were more than willing to put their body on the line to protect the lead. Over the course of the contest, Boston College would block 20 shots, highlighted by a pair from two-way forward Sammy Taber in the same trip down the ice, using every inch of her 5’5” frame to prevent any unnecessary shots on goal.

Holy Cross was unable to get Horung out of the net until the clock ticked under two minutes due to a failure to establish the zone for any significant duration. Once she left the net it would take only 80 seconds before Maxim Tremblay would pot the empty netter, with the highly-touted Canadian securing the victory for Boston College.

The Eagles improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in Hockey East and travel down to Providence on Saturday to face a Friar squad who dropped their Hockey East opener 4-0 on the road against Northeastern. Holy Cross lost its second consecutive game, falling to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in conference action. It hosts Dartmouth for a pair of non-conference matchups in Worcester next weekend.