The magic number is 5 for BC women's soccer...

Big night in BC sports - 5 teams, 3 wins. I was lucky enough to see all 3 of the wins.

Women's Soccer: BC 3, CCSU 0

The women's soccer team is now 5 wins from the national championship after dispatching Central Connecticut State, 3-o, in front of a pretty solid crowd for a 4 PM start in Newton. Caitlin Hiler, Brooke Knowlton, and Stephanie Wirth scored for BC, who outshot CCSU 17-5. BC now faces Northeastern on Sunday after NU downed Harvard on penalty kicks.

Amy Caldwell, as usual, stood out from the pack. She set up BC's first goal by getting fouled in the box; Hiler scored on the ensuing penalty kick. Then, she made a wonderful play on BC's second goal, dashing through the CCSU defense and cutting toward the end line before sliding a great pass to Knowlton who blasted home an easy goal.

Men's Basketball: BC 80, CCSU 65

When I got to the men's basketball game it was 12-8 Central Connecticut, and I was pretty worried right off the bat; it stayed competitive 'til the half, but BC took control in the 2nd and cruised to an 80-65 win. Rakim Sanders and Joe Trapani became the Best BC Players Who Haven't Been Suspended; both played fine games. 

Women's Basketball: BC 99, St. Francis 68

The women's basketball game was a fun start-to-finish romp as BC crushed St. Francis 99-68. Carolyn Swords is completely unstoppable down low. Her 18 points stood out, although her fouling out with around six minuteeft was one of the few disappointing moments in the game.

The best thing about the game was that everyone got involved - aside from Swords, nobody really stood above the rest [har har, it's a pun, get it...?]. 

Murphy had 14 points, but to me the story of the game was Corey Rusin, who scored a career high 13 points and played an outstanding all-around game. She knocked down a three, made a nice move on a layup, and scored a few buckets after cleaning up on the glass. 

She also provided what is sure to be THE highlight of the season late in the second half (if anyone from BC athletics with access to the video is reading, I will pay you for a copy). She recorded an absolute mammoth block of an SFU shot, a block that Sean Williams would be proud of - out of nowhere. Lauren Whitehurst was about as excited as I've ever seen anyone after the play, practically picking up Rusin in excitement. We in the student section + the pep band were suitably awed. Coach Crawley obviously trusts Rusin to be a starter on this team and she has rewarded the trust with two excellent performances thus far. Nice.

Sylvia Crawley's whole deal is about bringing a new, up-tempo offense to BC and having the team work together as a unit. Check, check. I'm pretty sure the BC offense, led by point guard Brittany Johnson, recorded more fast break points in the first ten minutes of the game than we saw all of last season combined. BC also chalked up 22 assists and shot 56.2% from the floor. 

I was initially skeptical when I heard Crawley wanted to go to an 'up-tempo' style; I was not/am not sure BC has the personnel. But I do know that BC's going to have to create more possessions and score more points if they are going to have a chance to beat the Dukes and Marylands of the world. St. Francis is neither, but it was as nice a start to the season as we could have possibly hoped for.

Men's Soccer: Maryland 1, BC 0

Men's Hockey: BC 5, Merrimack 5 (OT)

The news from out of town was not so good: BC men's soccer lost 1-0 to Maryland in the ACC soccer semi-finals on a pretty sad own-goal late in the game, and the men's hockey team continued to struggle, tying Merrimack 5-5 after holding a 5-3 lead through two periods. Brock Bradford scored a hat trick for BC.

Tomorrow's UNH game becomes very important now, methinks; a loss tomorrow and we can call this a bona-fide slump.

The aforementioned Wildcats were embarrassed by UMass-Lowell tonight, 8-3, while BU's reign at #1 could be a short one after a 4-1 loss to UMass. Denver and Colorado College both lost, but Minnesota could be poised for a move into the top slot if they earn at least 3 points at home this weekend against Michigan Tech.

With BC struggling, and BU, UNH, CC and DU all losing, the door is open for #7 Northeastern to make a power-move into the top 5 with a victory over BU at Agganis Sunday night, as NU beat Vermont 5-3 tonight. Well done.