By Nick Dench
The Quinnipiac Bobcats (3-4) dominated the Vermont Catamounts (0-7) in all aspects of their game this afternoon at the Quinnipiac Turf Complex. Four different Bobcats scored goals in the 4-0 shutout victory.
The win is junior goalie Meg Conaboy’s (Clarks Summit, Pa.) first career shutout, after playing behind Nicole Lewis for her first two years in the program. She faced three shots and saved all three of them with ease.
Conaboy gives her defense credit for the shutout.
“I couldn’t do it without them … they all helped me do it,” Conaboy said.
Quinnipiac controlled the game play in the first half, only allowing two shots on goal and one penalty corner in which Vermont could not produce any offense. On the offensive side, the Bobcats proved that the best defense is a good offense, maintaining possession of the ball for nearly the entire first half and attempting 14 shots.
The Bobcats were able to capitalize on their relentless offensive attack early when senior Jennalise Taylor (Yardley, Pa.) found the loose ball near the goal line and capitalized on the opportunity for her second goal tally of the year.
After a barrage of opportunities, Quinnipiac struck for their second goal on the afternoon from junior Danielle Allan (Riverdale, N.J.) on the team’s first penalty corner of the day. After the insert from senior Christa Romano (Madison, N.J.), the Bobcats passed the ball around before Allan tipped it in on a shot/pass by Taylor.
Vermont goalie Stephanie Zygmunt was the lone bright spot for the Catamounts, making 14 saves on 18 shot attempts by Bobcats. Her highlight reel save in the first half gave Vermont some hope as they pushed and had a scoring opportunity that was spoiled by Conaboy.
The Bobcats took that momentum when sophomore Savanna Reilly (Hamden, Conn.) stole the ball in the corner and found a streaking Meghan McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) who buried the Bobcats’ third goal of the first half.
“I love when everyone scores,” Taylor said. “When we have four different people score it’s awesome.”
Quinnipiac added a fourth goal when Romano picked up a pass on a corner and put it in the net for her first goal of the year with time expired. The Quinnipiac Bobcats look to continue their strong play tomorrow against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks at 2 p.m.
“To win the MAAC championship and go to the NCAA tournament, you gotta play Friday, Saturday,” head coach Becca Main said. “We figured we need to do it once. We need to evaluate it and see what we did well in recovery.”
The Bobcats look to condition themselves for conference play with the only back-to-back games scheduled this year before the MAAC playoffs.
