Boston College Women to be Tested Early, Often in Non-Conference Play

There may not be a sport in the land that values strength of schedule more than college hockey, especially on the women’s side where only six at-large selections for the NCAA tournament are up for grabs each year. After a 2024-25 season that saw a variety of Hockey East teams on the wrong side of the bubble (four teams finished 11-15 in the Pairwise ranks that the selection committee heavily used), largely due to strength of schedule calculations resulting in five ECAC and four WCHA teams being in the top ten, the Eagles have taken it into their own hands to try to boost that metric in their favor.

With eight open non-conference slots (two of the 10 already are dedicated to The Beanpot), Boston College scheduled seven games against programs that competed in a regional final last March. starting with tonight's season opener in Minnesota.

Season opener at No. 3 Minnesota

The first set of those contests come with a trip to the Twin Cities to take on the powerful Golden Gophers, fresh off a 29-12-1 campaign that saw them advance to the WCHA championship and the Frozen Four, falling to eventual champion Wisconsin in both contests. Two-time Patty Kazmaier Award finalist Abbey Murphy is back after finishing second in the country with 33 goals. A familiar face will be on the blue line for the Gophers, as junior defensemen will make her debut for the squad after two seasons at Boston College, including a Second-Team All-Hockey East campaign in 2024-25.

Saint Anselm Visit (October 4)

For the first time in program history, Boston College will make the road trip north to Manchester to take on Saint Anselm. The two programs have met once prior, with Boston College hosting the Hawks on Dec. 30, 2023. In that contest, Boston College took advantage of a pair of first period goals, the first from then freshman Sammy Taber, still with the Eagles now in her junior year, and Abbey Newhook, recently drafted by the Boston Fleet. The Eagles would go on to win the game 5-1, after five consecutive goals to start the season.

Series at No. 4 Cornell (Oct. 17-18)

Banner night for Cornell will come against Boston College, as Big Red opens the season in mid-October (Ivy League schools playing hockey begin their season three weeks after the rest of the nation) after a ECAC championship over Colgate last March. Cornell will be led by junior netminder Annelies Bergmann who won ECAC Goalie of the Year and was named a AHCA Second-Team All-American. In 2024-25 she posted goals against average of 1.35 and a save percentage of .943 en route to a 25-5-5 record.

No. 9 St. Lawrence for Thanksgiving (Nov. 28-29)

No holiday break for Boston College as the Eagles and Saints kickoff a two game series on Black Friday at Conte Forum. It will be the 37th and 38th all-time matchup between the two programs, with Boston College holding a 19-3-4 record, including an 11-1-1 advantage in the last 13 meetings. The was the start of the 13-game run of dominance for the Eagles in March of 2012 when the Eagles scored five unanswered to advance to the Frozen Four on the back of a 6-3 win at home. These two teams also met again in the national tournament seven years later, with Boston College once again taking advantage of home ice advantage to advance to their third consecutive Frozen Four after six different goal scorers contributed to a 6-0 win.

No. 5 Colgate for New Year's (Jan. 3rd)

Colgate will have to make up for the lost production of Kristýna Kaltounková who heads to the PWHL Siren, but they may have their answer in Elyssa Biederman who is back for her senior campaign. After an impressive first two years that saw her named to the ECAC’s All-Rookie and All-Tournament team as a freshman and All-ECAC Third-Team as a sophomore, she took a step forward to lead the team with 51 points and 32 assists, as well as finishing second on the team with 19 goals. Now without her top linemate it’ll be up to the junior to find a way to produce against Boston College’s Grace Campbell.

Read more: