By Zack Daly, QBSN Staff Writer

The Bobcats picked up their biggest win of the year so far, defeating in conference rival Mount St. Mary’s 12-8. Quinnipiac improves to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in conference, while the Mountaineers fall to 4-8 and 0-2 in the NEC.

“We knew today was going to be a big game,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “We told our guys all week when the big games come, you have to play well. I’m very proud of them; they did a great job today.”

Matt Diehl (Towson, Md.) led the Bobcats attack with two goals and two assists, giving him eight goals and six assists on the season.

“We prepared hard,” Diehl said. “We wanted to get the intensity up and come out hard in the first quarter, which is what we did, and luckily we gave ourselves a nice little cushion.”

The Bobcats got off to a fast start, scoring seven goals on eight shots on the Mountaineers freshman goalie Frankie McCarthy.  After Mount St. Mary’s switched to sophomore goalie Adam Borgogelli, it settled in defensively, allowing five goals on four shots.

Quinnipiac’s attack remained patient thoughout the game, waiting for high quality shots. The Bobcats had eight different goal scorers, including three tallies from Brendan Wilbur (Hingha, Mass.).

The Bobcats stood strong defensively against the Mountaineers, who average over 13 goals a game. Quinnipiac’s defense caused 15 turnovers, while Gill Conners (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) continued his stellar inaugural season with Quinnipiac, making 13 saves on 21 shots.

“I think we lost our way a little bit the last few games,” Fekete said. “We became so offensively focused. We came into this weekend, and we put a focus on defense.”

Quinnipiac held the Mountaineers three leading goal scorers, who had a total of 74 combine goals coming into the game, to three goals, all scored by Brett Schmidt.

The Bobcats will return to action on Tuesday, April 9 at 4 p.m., when they face the Harvard Crimson in Hamden.