By Gabbi Riggi

The Quinnipiac Bobcats played host to the University of Guelph Gryphons at an exhibition to open the season at High Point Solutions Stadium at York Hill, winning 3-1.

The 3-1 defeat of the visitors from Ontario came off the heels of two power play goals in the third period; the first was by Morgan Fritz-Ward (Mason City, Iowa), the other on a 5-on-3 from Shiann Darkangelo (Brighton, Mich.). Assisting on both goals in the third was sophomore defenseman Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario).

Quinnipiac peppered the Guelph goaltender Stephanie Nehring, but was unable to break through until the middle of the second. The Bobcats ended the game with 43 shots on goal to the Gryphons’ seven.

The lone goal for Guelph came 18 seconds after Quinnipiac broke the scoring open. Right off of the face off at center ice, Guelph center Jessica Pinkerton brought it into the Quinnipiac zone and took a hard slap shot that got through the five hole of freshman Sydney Rossman (Excelsior, Minn.).

“We’re happy with our goaltending at this point,” head coach Rick Seeley said. “We’re young back there and we’re young on [defense], but I was pretty happy with how they played.”

He also complimented the overall effort of the team during the game.

“We held them to no shots in the third and no shots on two power plays,” Seeley said. “I thought our forecheck was good, I thought our second effort was great, our back pressure was good, so overall I thought it was a really good effort.”

Quinnipiac heads off to Minnesota to start the season, playing St. Cloud State on Friday, Oct. 4 and again on Oct. 5.