By Thomas Albanese, QBSN Staff Writer

Coming off a 4-4-overtime tie and a 4-3 loss to Mercyhurst, the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team won its first game of the season, defeating the Black Bears of the University of Maine by a score of 6-1.

The Bobcats quickly got an early lead that they would hold for the rest of the game. Seven minutes in, junior Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) scored the goal off an assist from senior Felica Vieweg (Port Orange, Fla.).

Quinnipiac played great defense in the first period, only allowing Maine to have four shots on goal.

The Bobcats would once again dominate the second period, scoring three goals to extend their lead over the Black Bears to 4-0. Babstock and Vieweg switched stats for the team’s second goal as Vieweg took a quick shot to get the score off an excellent pass from Babstock.

Five minutes later as the Bobcats were a man-up on the power play, Babstock once again made her presence on the ice known as she earned her fifth goal of the season off an assist from teammates, Regan Boulton (Brandon, Mantiboa) and Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ontario)

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As the second period was concluding, Boulton whipped a nice shot into the net for the Bobcat’s fourth goal. Junior Uden Johansson (Sundsvall, Sweden) contributed on the goal with her first assist of the young season.

However, Babstock’s night was not close to being over. She would score two more goals in the final period, giving her seven goals on the season. Uden Johansson would chip in on both assists for Babstock’s goals.

Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge, Ontario) finished the game with eight saves, but with about eleven minutes remaining in the third period, she had her only blemish of the night.  Maine broke the shutout off a power play goal by Audra Richards assisted by Brooklyn Langloi and Brittany Dougherty.

The team’s head coach Rick Seeley was impressed of his entire team’s performance.

“I thought that all of the line combinations were great tonight and we looked much better than last week. We also moved the puck very well to create many opportunities,” Seeley said.

Babstock’s four goals in one game was huge, as it broke the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey program record for most goals scored in a game by a single player.

“Kelly is amazing around the net, but the most impressive thing is her intensity and she is playing hard on every shift along with playing great defense too,” Seeley said.

While Quinnipiac earned its first victory of the season (1-1-1), Maine saw its first game of the year in the form of a loss. Quinnipiac and Maine are both right back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. to finish their weekend series at High Point Solutions Arena.