ORONO – By her own admission, it had been a “very frustrating” evening for University of Maine sophomore right winger Karen Droog.

But that all changed in the final 3:33 of the Bears’ 3-3 overtime tie with Boston College Wednesday night.

Droog, who fanned on a penalty shot with 16 seconds left in the second period and her team trailing 3-1, scored twice in the last 3:33 to tie it.

Her power-play goal made it 3-2 with 3:33 remaining and she got the equalizer with 57 seconds left. Maine goalie Amanda Cronin had gone to the bench in favor of the extra attacker.

Maine is now 8-9-2 overall and 2-6-2 in ECAC East while BC is 3-9-2 and 1-7-1.

Meagan Aarts had opened the scoring just 30 seconds into the game for Maine by tipping Droog’s shot from the point past the left skate of Eagle standout freshman goalie Lisa Davis, who finished with 44 saves including 25 Grade-A stops.

BC stunned the Bears with three goals in a span of 2:34 later in the first period. Alaina Clark swept her own blocked shot between the pads of Cronin, Jaclyn Kryzak snapped a short wrist shot home off a LeeAnne Irwin turnover and Kelly McManus made a nifty move off a Clark pass before backhanding a four-footer between Cronin’s left skate and the post.

“Missing the penalty shot affected me,” admitted Droog, who had the puck roll off her stick on the backhand. “I really wanted to put the puck in the net in the third period.”

Her first goal came off a diagonal pass from the right point by Meagan Aarts, who spotted her in the circle to the right of standout freshman goalie Lisa Davis.

“She gave me a lot of five-hole,” said Droog, whose 16-foot wrister beat Davis.

Davis said the shot “actually beat me short side.”

Cronin then made a game-saving stop off McManus’ breakaway backhander on the ensuing center-ice faceoff.

“I had scored with the same move and she remembered it and got her left pad on it,” said McManus.

“Like Coach [Rick Filighera] says, ‘It’s not the number of saves you make it’s when you make them. The team needed me to make that save,” said Cronin, who finished with 20 stops including 13 Grade-A’s.

Droog notched the equalizer when she stopped teammate Emily Stevens’ wrist shot from the right point, turned and slid the puck through a maze of players into the net.

“I think that went five-hole, too,” said Droog, who finished with a game-high 11 shots on goal.

Davis said, “I saw her turn and wind up but I never saw the puck.”

Cronin and Filighera said it was a testament to the heart of the team that they were able to handle the frustration of a hot goalie and several missed opportunities to persevere and come out with the tie.

“We deserved a better outcome,” said Filighera whose team attempted 90 shots to BC’s 30 and outshot the Eagles 47-23 including a 33-11 edge after the first period. “We really outworked them. We overcame adversity.”

BC coach Tom Babson said his team played “terrible” and was bailed out by Davis.

McManus said her team’s penalties – Maine had eight power plays to BC’s two – took its wear and tear on them.

BLACK BEARS 3, EAGLES 3

Boston College (3-9-2) 3 0 0 0 ? 3

Maine (8-9-2) 1 0 2 0 ? 3

First period ? 1. Maine, Aarts 14 (Droog), :30; 2. BC, Clark 1 (McManus), 7:19; 3. BC, Kryzak 2 (unassisted), 8:48; 4. BC, McManus 7 (Clark), 9:53. Penalties: BC, Clark, tripping, 12:54; BC, Tychsen, body checking, 14:46; Maine, Biron, roughing, 17:23; BC, Barsz, roughing, 17:23.

Second period ? No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Aarts, interference, 1:04; BC, Richardson, high sticking, 7:23; Maine, Hill, holding, 12:56; BC, too many men on the ice, 16:13.

Third period ? 5. Maine, Droog 15 (Aarts, Stevens), 16:27 (pp); 6. Maine, Droog 16 (Stevens), 19:03. Penalties: BC, Richardson, interference, 4:41; BC, McGrath, high sticking, 6:03; BC, Clark, slashing, 10:40; BC, Carlson, boarding, 15:17.

Overtime: No scoring. Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Maine 14-15-15-3?47; BC 12-5-4-2?23

Goaltenders: Maine, Cronin (23 shots-20 saves); BC, Davis (47-44)

Power-play Opportunities: Maine 1 of 8; BC 0 of 2

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 10-12-16-3?41; BC 11-4-3-1?19

Attendance: 121