By Marty Joseph, QBSN Staff Writer
The Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team (15-9-2, 9-5-1 ECAC) defeated Brown (4-15-1, 3-12-0 ECAC), 5-0 Friday night at the T.D. Bank Sports Center in an ECAC Hockey matchup. Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) and Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) led the way for the Bobcats offensively each scoring two goals. Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge, Ontario) stopped 12 shots for her second shutout of the season.
The Bobcats jumped on Brown early taking the lead just under four minutes into the opening frame. Following a failed 2-on-1 attempt by the Bobcats, Brittany Lyons (Canton, Mass.) chipped the puck out in front of the net to Amanda Colin (Burnsville, Minn.). Following in front of the net Connery poked the puck past Brown goaltender Katie Jamieson.
Just over two minutes later, Connery added her second goal of the game. Lyons picked up a loose puck in the slot and dished it to Connery who fired it into a wide-open net for the goal.
“I really love playing with them, we work well together,” Connery said about playing on the line with Colin and Lyons. “We support each other and it feels like we know where each other are and it makes the game a lot easier.”
Babstock scored with just 27 seconds remaining in the first period to stretch the Bobcats lead to 3-0. The play started when Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario) received a pass from Regan Boulton and dished a cross-ice pass to Babstock. Babstock cradled the puck and fired it over the diving Jamieson for the goal.
The Bobcats came out flying once again in the second period. Babstock scored her second goal of the game just under two and a half minutes into the middle frame for the 4-0 lead.
Felica Vieweg (Port Orange, Fla.) capped the scoring with her third goal of the season coming with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Vieweg received a pass from Kristen Eklund (Barrington, R.I.) at the point and fired a shot passed the right pad of Jamieson.
Vigilanti was not tested often but was solid when called upon.
“I thought she was very sharp. In the past those are tough games for [Vigilanti] when she wasn’t getting a lot of shots,” said Coach Rick Seeley on Vigilanti’s game. “She made a couple of huge saves when we gave them a couple of opportunities in front.”
The Bobcats jump right back into action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. when they welcome the Yale Bulldogs to the High Point Solutions Arena in an ECAC Hockey matchup.
