BC and Harvard win in OT

Oh, so that's what it's like to play in the Beanpot.

At 11:12 of overtime, the Boston College women's hockey team tumbled off the bench whooping with joy and falling all over each other to get to freshman Meghan Fardelmann.

BC's most dangerous forward, Deborah Spillane, picked the puck out of a scramble and fed Fardelmann, who snapped a wrist shot into the corner of the Northeastern net to give the Eagles a 4-3 overtime victory in the first round of the Beanpot last night at Bright Center.

Harvard also needed overtime before it got past Boston University, 2-1.

It's a new era for the women's Beanpot; for the first time in 28 tournaments, there are four varsity teams competing, and for the first time, both first-round games went to overtime.

''That's what the Beanpot is about," said BC coach Tom Mutch, ''overtime games and seeing kids be emotional. It was very fun for me to see our bench get excited like that -- and I've been on both sides. Over on their bench, it just rips the heart out of you."

No heart bigger than the one pounding in the chest of NU senior goalie Marisa Hourihan. She won't go out with a Beanpot, but she made the first round of this one a thriller.

''I would rather go out with a W, of course," Hourihan said. ''But I see the reactions from my younger teammates after a loss that big, and I know they have three more Beanpots to play."

This was BC's fourth one-goal victory of the season over NU (5-21-1), and it stung. NU coach Laura Schuler suffered with the loss but celebrated the event.

''It's really the first time all four teams are capable of winning the Beanpot," she said. ''It's like it's the legit one."

BC (14-9-4) and NU scrambled to a 1-1 tie in the first period before the Eagles started in on Hourihan. Sixteen saves in the second period, 17 in the third.

BC got two shots past her in the second, Maggie Taverna's shorthanded goal and a stuff by Jill McInnis, but NU's Crystal Rochon drilled in a shot from the point to make it 3-2.

Rochon got her second goal at 13:07 of the third and NU held off the Eagles as they worked their way through a pair of power plays, sending the game to overtime.

''We told our team, 'We're the only one that doesn't have a Beanpot --and Brown has one! -- so let's put ourselves in position to get one,' " said Mutch. ''And we did."

Harvard also got itself in position, but the nation's seventh-ranked team had to stave off a challenge from the Terriers, the new kids in the Pot.

Harvard (11-7-4) has not lost a Beanpot game since 1998, but BU almost stole this one after Laurel Koller tied the game at one with a power-play goal midway through the third.

After Carrie Schroyer smacked in a rebound to get Harvard started at 14:38 of the first period, BU goalie Allyse Wilcox kept the Terriers (10-14-4) in it.

Wilcox stopped everything, including an 18-shot barrage in the second period, until Sarah Wilson sneaked behind the defense at 46 seconds of overtime, and converted Lauren Herrington's feed.

''In the locker room, we looked around and asked, 'Who's gonna get this done?' " said Schroyer. ''We said, 'We're not leaving here until we get Harvard into that championship game."