On Oct. 1, 2010, then-freshman Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) picked up her first career assist on a goal by Kate Wheeler against Niagara University — and 1,164 days later, Babstock picked up her 100th career assist on a goal by freshman Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) as the Bobcats defeated the RPI Engineers, 2-0, at the High Point Solutions Arena on Saturday.
“I am pretty proud of it,” Babstock said. “It’s not going to stop for me I still want to keep going and get points for the team. We want to go far this year. It’s great that I got 100 assists, so I’m just going to keep going.”
The game opened up with a bitterly-contested first period. Nineteen combined shots would not find the back of the net, despite a penalty taken by Madison Marzario late in the first period.
“We played, I thought at the start of the game, RPI’s pace which is to slow it down, “ head coach Rick Seeley said.
That deadlock would not last long as Woods scored less than a minute into the second on a rebound off Kelly O’Brien. Babstock recorded her 100th career assist with the goal.
The Bobcats would strike minutes later as Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) found a little bit of space over the head of Kelly O’Brien. Finding the back of the net, she put the Bobcats up 2-0.
In the third period Alexa Gruschow took a slashing penalty to put the Bobcats a player up. On the subsequent powerplay Nicole Brown sent the puck in on net. The puck was tipped off of Shiann Darkangleo’s (Brighton, Mich.) stick and went into the net for her 14th goal. On the goal, the Bobcats extended their lead to 3-0.
“We have someone like Babs who, you know, scores a lot for you, at times she takes risks,” Seeley said. “I thought she left the zone early, Woodsie didn’t get it out, and then the [defense] steps up and we’re shorthanded. They did a good job responding to that situation and we left a couple people open.”
Later in the third period, RPI made it a little bit closer as Taylor Mahoney netted her fourth career goal to make the score 3-1. The goal snapped Quinnipiac goaltender Chelsea Laden’s (Lakeville, Mich.) shutout.
Despite pulling their goalie late in the third, the Engineers could not find the second and third goals of the game, and the Bobcats took down the Engineers 3-1 to wrap up the semester.
Babstock currently sits at a career total of 188 points, needing 12 to reach the plateau of 200 career points.
The Bobcats will face the Princeton Tigers in Hamden on Jan. 7.
“We’ve never been in this position before, in the top 10 most of the year, [so] there’s a lot more stress than normal,” Seeley said. “We’ve carried that real well most of the season. So its important that the recoup, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too.”
