Coming off of 17 days of rest during exams, the No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team responded with a single-game school-record 17 goals against Boston College last night to lead off what it dubbed the start of a new season.

Harvard’s output in its 17-2 win matched the number on the jersey of Crimson captain Jennifer Botterill, who rewrote the record books herself. The Olympian tallied three goals and seven assists to set the school single-game point record and match her own single-game assist record. Tammy Shewchuk ’00-’01, who twice scored nine points against BC, was the previous record holder.

Botterill was just one of several Harvard players with career-best scoring performances.

Two other Olympians had banner nights. Freshman forward Julie Chu had four goals and four assists, while junior captain Angela Ruggiero picked up two goals and five assists.

The other two players to set personal milestones were fourth-line players—sophomore Sarah Holbrook and freshman Jaclyn Pitushka. Holbrook netted a hat trick and recorded an assist, and Pitushka’s goal and assist were firsts for her career.

“Different girls were scoring and contributing,” Botterill said. “If you looked at our bench, that’s when the most excitement came-—when those girls got their chances and opportunities.”

Pitsushka’s goal was Harvard’s seventeenth. It came with over nine minutes remaining.

The previous team scoring record had been set in 1999 in a 15-0 win over Colby, a program no longer in Division I. A Holbrook goal set up by junior Mina Pell tied the Colby mark, while a Botterill goal assisted by Chu surpassed it.

BC coach Tom Babson knew his team was not going to win before the puck dropped. As he pointed out after the game, Harvard had beaten his team 7-2 last season even without the help of any Olympians. He said he wanted to use last night’s game to test out three or four new systems that he had not wanted to risk using in potentially close games.

Babson has gotten used to seeing the positives in defeat. Last night’s game reminded him of an 11-0 loss to the U.S. national team when his team was outshot 70-1, yet his players were thrilled because they only trailed 2-0 at the end of the first period.

“I tried to say to the kids, this is why you want to play Division I, you want to play the best,” Babson said. “The important thing is what you learn from there.”

Last night was also a chance for Harvard to try out new systems. Stone played junior Lauren McAuliffe on the first line with Botterill and Chu. McAuliffe assisted on Harvard’s first goal from Chu just 23 seconds into the first period and scored herself 13 seconds into the second period.

Senior Tracy Catlin filled McAuliffe’s old spot on the second line, which also includes sophomore Nicole Corriero and captain Kalen Ingram.

Harvard coach Katey Stone tried several different combinations with the third line.

The game was also Harvard’s first chance to shake off rust from exams.

“It’s good timing for us,” Stone said. “No matter how much you prepare that first game is a struggle to get back into the mental intensity.”

The Crimson suffered from defensive kinks in the first period. Both of BC’s goals were knocked into the net by Harvard defenders.

Stone was impressed with the way the team responded to those errors. After the first BC goal tied the game at one, Ruggiero scored from afar just nine second later. Botterill tallied the third goal in 32 seconds to make the score 3-1 and end any hope for a competitive game.

The Crimson will next be in action with a road trip starting at Niagara on Friday night and ending at No. 9 Mercyhurst on Sunday.

Mercyhurst’s current 11-game unbeaten streak and team goals-against-average are second in the nation, behind only the Crimson.

BC will get to play Harvard again if it wins its next game—a Beanpot semifinal against Northeastern at the Bright Center on Tuesday.

“After this game, Northeastern’s going to seem pretty slow,” Babson said.

—Staff writer David DeRemer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.