Eagles Fall to Crimson in Women’s Beanpot Opener

Despite playing the most complete game in the recent stretch, Boston College drops a third consecutive Beanpot opener.

Morgan McGathey handles her way through traffic before scoring the opening goal of The Beanpot. | Harvard Women's Hockey (@HarvardWHockey) via X

BOSTON, Mass. - During Boston College’s five game win streak in November, it began to feel a bit like Groundhog’s Day. The Eagles would be out shot and living in their own zone, only for a breakaway goal and Grace Campbell standing on her head to be enough for Boston College to emerge victorious. In the first round of The Beanpot, the familiar story turned on its head as the Eagles fired 41 shots on net but were denied by a netminder at her best.

Morgan McGathey opened the scoring in the first period for Harvard 1-0 after collecting a puck along the right side glass. The forward, who grew up just fifteen miles from TD Garden where the Crimson will compete next Tuesday, crashed hard to the net and split a pair of Eagles before putting a backhander by Grace Campbell as she fell to the ice after being tripped. 

Always go hard to the net 🫡#GoCrimson x #OneCrimson pic.twitter.com/IReuUWlvdS

— Harvard Women's Hockey (@HarvardWHockey) January 13, 2026

In the second period, Ava Thomas raced down ice to set up a forecheck in the Harvard defensive end. As the Crimson attempted to move the puck around and in their struggle to escape, Emma Conner poked the puck away from Bella Finnegan in front of the crease. The Minnesota transfer sent a pass left to right across the crease, positioned perfectly for Ava Thomas to put home her 13th goal of the season and knot the game at 1.

Let the fun begin 🤪 pic.twitter.com/vuOBzGWKLy

— Boston College Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey) January 13, 2026

In the final frame, Kaley MacDonald collected a banked pass off the side wall from Emily Hamman. MacDonald, another Massachusetts-born forward, skated off to the right of the Eagle netminder and opened up a shooting lane. Wasting no time, MacDonald snapped a shot off over the shoulder of Grace Campbell, ricocheting off the cross bar and into the net to give Harvard the lead back 2-1,

SHOOTERS SHOOT 🚀#GoCrimson x #OneCrimson pic.twitter.com/FUDhU1LO1X

— Harvard Women's Hockey (@HarvardWHockey) January 13, 2026

Boston College made one final gasp in the final 26 seconds with the Eagles on a five-on-four advantage after matching minors and pulling Campbell. After Harvard was unable to clear the zone, Madelyn Murphy attempted to fire a shot from the blue line to the net but failed to find the target. The shot marked the start of a stretch of five shot attempts that failed to find the net, including four by Murphy and one by the Eagles’ lone goalscorer Ava Thomas. In the final ten seconds, both Olivia Maffero and Sammy Taber fired shots towards Ainsley Tuffy, but the Shattuck St. Mary's product made her 39th and 40th saves of the afternoon to seal the Crimson's 2-1 victory.

With the loss, Boston College will head to its fourth consecutive consolation game on Tuesday, facing off at TD Garden against whichever team fails to win in Tuesday night's Northeastern and Boston University matchup. The Eagles will play one game before then, hosting Providence on Friday at 2 p.m. ET. Harvard advances to its first final at TD Garden and look for its first title since 2022 when they defeated Boston College 5-4.