Freshman Bella Fanale scored two goals in her Gophers debut and Abbey Murphy had a goal and three assists as the Gophers women’s hockey team opened its season with a 7-1 victory over Boston College on Thursday at Ridder Arena.
The Gophers, ranked No. 3 in the USCHO.com poll, started with a flourish, scoring five goals in a five-minute span in the first period. The Gophers outshot the Eagles 21-0 in the first period.
“Obviously a great way to start the season,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “We scored five there in the first period, and in about seven minutes or so and we were able to continue to play well. Puck didn’t go on the net as much in the second and third, but obviously a great start to the year.”
Ava Lindsay and Sydney Morrow each had three assists for the Gophers.
Fanale opened the scoring with 9:22 left in the first period. Sophomore Chloe Primerano’s unassisted goal made it 2-0 before Fanale’s power-play goal with 6:30 left in the period. Kendra Distad and Murphy scored nine seconds apart to make it 5-0 with 4:17 left in the period.
Ava Thomas scored in the final minute of the second period to get the Eagles on the scoreboard.
Nelli Laitinen scored with 6:06 remaining in the game to make it 7-1.
The Gophers outshot the Eagles, who were picked to finish fourth in the Big East Conference preseason poll, 48-10.
