Before the Midnight Madness festivities were under way to signal the beginning of basketball season on Friday night, there was already one team that was winning in the TD Banknorth Sports Center.

The Quinnipiac University women’s hockey team opened its second season at their new home rink with a 4-3 win over Northeastern.

The Bobcats jumped on the scoreboard first when junior Antoinette Maldonado scored the first goal of the season. Freshman Brandice Moniz assissted on Maldonado’s goal.

Junior Elyse Cole’s goal with under a minute to play in the first period gave Quinnipiac a 2-0 advantage.

In the second period, Quinnipiac (1-1) and Northeastern (0-2-1) traded goals back and forth. Northeastern cut the deficit to one when Chelsea Jones found the back fo the net.

Quinnipiac’s Vicky Graham put the Bobcats back up by two when she scored an unassisted goal with under five minutes left in the second period.

The Huskies closed the gap to 3-2 when Cassie Sperry found teammate Nikki Petrich with under three minutes left.

Both teams would score one more goal a piece before the end of the second period as the Bobcats would own the 4-3 lead.

QU would hold onto the lead as freshman goaltender Jamie Miller would make 13 saves in the final period to help the Bobcats to the 4-3 victory.

After the win against Northeastern, the Bobcats looked to sweep their opening weekend with a win over Boston College on Saturday afternoon. In the end, the Eagles were too much for the Bobcats, as Boston College went on to win 4-2.

Quinnipiac got off to a slow start as the Eagles scored the first four goals of the game. The Eagles scored two goals in the first period and two goals in the second period. Heading into the third period, Boston College had a 4-0 lead over the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac got on the scoreboard in the third period when junior Erica Bolognino scored a power play goal to cut the deficit to 4-1.

The Bobcats would inch closer when junior Nicolette Leone scored a goal that was assisted by fellow junior Trudy Reyns.

However, Quinnipieac was unable to find the back of the net and continue their rally as Boston College (3-0) would hold on for the 4-2 victory.

In the loss to Boston College, Miller made 22 saves in only her second collegiate game. For the Eagles, goaltender Molly Schaus made 21 saves

The Bobcats will return to action when they travel to New Jersey to take on Princeton in their ECAC opener next Sunday.

Check next week’s issue of The Chronicle for a full preview of the women’s ice hockey team.