Eagles Win Two Ways in Weekend Sweep of UMass Lowell

The sophomores had themselves a weekend against UML.

No. 1 Boston College pounded UMass Lowell 7-1 Friday night and came from behind to win 4-2 Saturday and secure yet another weekend sweep.

After the teams traded goals in the opening few minutes, BC’s sophomore line of Alex Newhook, Matt Boldy and Mike Hardman exploded, scoring five of the final six goals. The trio combined for 11 points on the night, led by Boldy’s 1-4-5 stat line.

Perhaps the biggest development of the evening was BC converting on two of five power plays. The Eagles came into the weekend with a league-worst 10.5% conversion rate.

The best goal of the night was BC’s third, which showcased all of BC’s spectacular sophomores. The ever-active Spencer Knight caught the Riverhawks in the midst of a change and fired a multi-line pass up to Hardman that set up an effective 3-on-0. It went Hardman to Boldy to Newhook for the reigning National Freshman of the Year’s first goal of the 2020-21 campaign.

BC looked to carry the 40-shot, 7-goal performance over to the Tsongas Center for night two and initially found themselves stymied by Owen Savory. The UML netminder didn’t face many shots, but made a couple key saves in the early going, including a nice glove save while sliding across the crease.

Lowell hopped out to a 2-0 lead in the first behind goals from Blake Wells and Andre Lee. All it took to get the Eagles was a lucky bounce for Hardman. His goal midway through the second was the first of four-straight for BC. After scoring one goal since December 4th, Hardman had himself a weekend netting three against the Riverhawks.

Nikita Nesterenko ripped one home off the opening draw in the third to give BC its first lead of the night, and linemate Jack McBain recorded a tip-in a few minutes later to extend the lead to two. UML scored as the final buzzer sounded, but it only guaranteed a one-goal loss for the Riverhawks.

With the pair of victories, BC improves to 13-3-1, including 8-1-1 in their last 10. As is now the usual, BC won’t know its next opponent until midweek, but Vermont could be an option now that the Catamounts have resumed activity. UVM is the only team not on pause that BC has yet to face this season.