By Zach Russo, QBSN Staff Writer
The Big Green got a big beat-down by the Bobcats Saturday afternoon, as Quinnipaic defeated Dartmouth 8-3 at the High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ontario) had three goals on the day. She had scored only one goal in the team’s first eight games.
“[Kosta’s] had chances every game,” head coach Rick Seeley said. “She’s been creating those. She’s working hard. She’s been one of our most consistent energetic players this year, and it was only a matter of time. She’s a natural scorer.”
Her first goal came just two and a half minutes into the game. Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) had the puck behind the net when Kosta cut to the slot, got the pass from Babstock, and put in the top right corner. Then, late in the second period, Kosta got a rebound off of Nicole Connery’s (Newmarket, Ontario) shot and scored on a backhand. Kosta got her hat trick midway through the third period on a breakaway goal where she deked Dartmouth freshman backup goalie Katie Milligan to the right and shot it to her left.
Kosta had three goals, but that wouldn’t have been enough to beat Dartmouth without the help of her teammates. Brittany Lyons (Canton, Mass.) had two goals, Connery had a goal and an assist, and Babstock had a goal and four assists. Seeley knows his team can’t rely on Babstock too much; she leads the team with 10 goals on the year so far, six more than Kosta and Lyons, who are tied for second.
“We needed some production from other lines to get the pressure off [Babstock],” Seeley said.
And that’s exactly what they got. Lyons and Erica Uden Johanssen (Sundsvall, Sweden), both forwards on the second line, combined for three points, Morgan Fritz-Ward (Mason City, Iowa) got a goal for the third line, and Shelby Wignall (Hamilton, Ontario), who is part of the second pairing of defenseman, added an assist. Even with all that help, though, Kosta did the heavy lifting for the Bobcats in this one.
“She’s been getting chances all year,” Seeley said. “She’s been playing great, creating opportunities, so we knew it was only a matter of time. She can score. It was great to get some input other than [Babstock].”
Victoria Vigilanti had a good game herself. She had 22 saves on 25 shots, which just about matched her save percentage on the year, but the three goals is slightly more than her goals against average.
Seeley hopes his team can keep this momentum going into next week’s games in New York against Colgate and Cornell, who are 2-6 and 4-1 on the year respectively. But Seeley isn’t worried about that.
“We’re not too concerned about our opponent right now. We just have to focus on getting better and better.”
