By Zack Daly, QBSN Staff Writer
Senior goalkeeper Nicole Lewis (East Amherst, N.Y.) stopped three shots late in the game, as the Bobcats held onto a 3-2 victory over American University.
Kristen Engelke (Medford, N.J.) scored the first goal of the game on Quinnipiac’s first penalty corner. Engelke picked up her third goal of the year on a pass from Cate Colucci (Gloucester, R.I.), her second assist on the season.
The Eagles tied it up at one a few minutes later on their first penalty corner. Shelly Montgomery got a shot past Lewis for her team leading fourth goal.
The Bobcats answered back with eight minutes to play in the first half. Danielle Allen (Riverdale, N.J.) attempted a pass for Jess Rusin (Garwood, N.J.) which went wide, but trickled into the back of the cage to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead.
With the half winding down, Rusin scored her fifth goal on the year to make it 3-1. Emile Vandeputte (Boechout, Belgium) received the ball off a corner and took the shot, which deflected off of Rusin’s stick and found the back of the net.
The Eagles fought back in the second half, forcing the Bobcats to play in their defensive end for most of the half. American’s relentless attack paid off with eight minutes to play in the second half, when Keelin Winslow redirected the shot from Gina Hofmann.
With time running down, American was able to draw a couple of corners, but Lewis made two difficult saves to keep Quinnipiac up 3-2.
American drew one last penalty corner as time expired, giving them one last chance to tie. Montgomery took a clear shot on net, but Lewis kicked it out of the circle to preserve the Bobcats fifth win.
“It was all about composer. We’ve done it before in practice. We know what to do; we know we have to get it out of the circle. We knew we had to keep our composer, and we got it done.” Lewis said.
“I think what we got to see today was the leaders step up and be leaders.” said Head Coach Becca” Main, “It was fantastic to see Nicole, to see Lauren [Zimniski], to see Jennalise [Taylor], not only keep composure for the team, but to drive home one of our main goals for the last couple of games, to finish a 70 minute game.”
Quinnipiac will return to action on Wednesday, Sep. 26, when it hosts Brown University at 4 p.m.
