By Kevin Noonan, QBSN Staff Writer
With just six seconds to go against the Wagner Seahawks in a 10-10 game, Quinnipiac head coach Eric Fekete called a timeout to set up one last shot to win.
“Probably called the timeout with too little time left, but I think our guys were thinking lets just go to overtime,” Fekete said. “I didn’t really want the ball to go down the other end of the field, we had two timeouts to burn, lets use one now and set something up. Fortunately it worked out for us.”
Sophomore Pat Corcoran (Stratford, Conn.) cradled the ball in towards the goal and found junior Dylan Webster (Brampton, Ontario) wide open on the weak side. Webster caught the pass and fired the shot past Wagner goalie Nicholas Gibaldi to score the game-winning goal with just 1.8 seconds left to win 11-10.
“I was pretty nervous going into it out of the timeout, [Corcoran] made a great pass to me in front of the net, drew the double team, I just slid open and buried the ball,” Webster said.
The win came after Quinnipiac (6-6, 3-1 NEC) squandered a 6-0 lead after the first quarter, where they were firing on all cylinders. The Bobcats scored three goals in the first minute and a half of the game, and five total in the first five minutes.
“Sometimes as a coach, I hate to say this, but I get a little worried when we score a lot early because we seem to take our foot off the gas sometimes,” Fekete said.
Wagner (1-11, 0-4 NEC) settled down after the rocky start, and limited Quinnipiac’s scoring throughout the final three quarters.
“It’s really a game of momentum, and we got off to a quick start, they caught up, and we’re just lucky we finished on top,” Webster said.
Colin O’Rourke paced the Seahawks attack all game long, scoring seven times en route to the loss. O’Rourke claimed the team lead in goals with 24 after the effort. Billy Battaglia scored twice and Griffen Leclaire also scored for Wagner.
Seven different Bobcats scored goals in the game, but none more important than the game-winner from Webster. Sophomore Michael Sagl (West Islip, N.Y.) found the back of the cage three times while sophomore Matt Diehl (Towson, Md.) and senior Basil Kostaras (Southlake, Texas) each scored twice.
The Seahawks did not commit a single penalty in the game, and drew four from the Bobcats. Wagner was 3-4 on man-up opportunities to take advantage of the Quinnipiac penalties.
Junior Gil Connors (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) was spectacular in goal for the Bobcats recording 16 saves, including several saves dropping down to the turf and kicking the ball out. Not to be outdown, Gibaldi settled down after a rough first quarter to keep the Seahawks in the game by saving 13 shots.
Quinnipiac also locked up a berth in the Northeast Conference tournament with the victory, and will head to Robert Morris next week in a matchup that could determine who gets the second seed in the tournament.
“It’s good to be in the playoffs … We’re gonna take a couple of days off, you gotta stay fresh and rested this time of year,” Fekete said. “Hardest part about winning a championship in this league is being able to play two games in three days.”
