Women’s Beanpot, Northeastern Continue To Make Eye-Opening History

BOSTON — There has been plenty of history made for well over a century inside the walls of Matthews Arena.

And before it closes its doors for good, the venerable building played host to another historic event Tuesday night.

A crowd of 3,298 came out to watch a Dunkin’ Women’s Beanpot semifinal bout between No. 15 Northeastern and No. 12 Boston College. It was the largest Beanpot crowd at a campus site in the history of the tournament and it was also the biggest crowd to ever attend a Northeastern women’s hockey game at Matthews Arena.

The throng of fans, especially Northeastern supporters, created and electric atmosphere that gave Huskies head coach Dave Flint “chills.” And Northeastern certainly fed off the incredible environment en route to a 4-2 victory over the Eagles.

“I think the biggest thing for us that helped us with the win was the crowd,” Flint said. “In 17 years, never seen a crowd like that here at Matthews. So, credit to all our fans that came out and supported us. Really pushed the team and helped us get the win.”

Northeastern came out flying at hyper speed as they took in the emotions from the raucous crowd. Freshman forward Morgan Jackson opened the scoring with 9:56 left in the first period and 56 seconds later senior captain Taze Thompson found the back of the net. It sent the crowd into a frenzy only adding more fuel to Northeastern and rattling BC.

“Since Beanpot my freshman year, we’ve never had a crowd like that,” Tory Mariano said. “So, I know BC hated playing here and I felt like that was the goal.”

Despite being on the other side of things, even BC head coach Katie Crowley gave credit to the impact the historic crowd had on the contest.

“What a great crowd and great job by Northeastern to get the crowd there and to create an atmosphere like they did,” Crowley said.

It was a historic night for the Women’s Beanpot and it could be followed by more history next week. The tournament played its championship bout and third-place game last year for the first time at TD Garden and it drew a record crowd of 10,633.

And if Tuesday night at Matthews Arena was any indication, a new record will be set next Tuesday when the Women’s Beanpot invades TD Garden once again.