The Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team defeated the Mercyhurst Lakers 2-1 on Saturday. This came less than 24 hours after the Bobcats tied Mercyhurst in the first half of the back-to-back series. Going into the weekend the Bobcats had been ranked the highest in program history at seventh in the preseason USCHO poll.

However, it is the first time the Bobcats are starting off the season without an exhibition game since 2008, bringing in a Lakers team that has traditionally given them a tough time. Mercyhurst is 12-1-1 all time against Quinnipiac, and head coach Cassandra Turner found the series to be what she expected.

“I think this weekend was what we wanted it to be,” she said. “Some things were exposed that we need to work on so I think this week is going to be vital for us.”

The Bobcats took the lead seven minutes into the first period. Mercyhurst was in the middle of a line change when freshman Melissa Samoskevich stole the puck and fed it to sophomore Taylar Cianfarano.

Cianfarano split the defenders at the blue line before burying a textbook backhand-forehand deke over the glove of Mercyhurst sophomore goaltender Jessica Convery, a play that impressed Turner.

“Great look. [Samoskevich] just had her head up and they have an ability to create offense and opportunities where you think it wouldn’t be able to happen,” she said.

The duo of Cianfarano and Samoskevich teamed up twice this weekend. Cianfarano assisted Samoskevich’s goal on Friday, and she then returned the favor with the first goal Saturday. Turner hopes the two forwards can continue to prove to be a lethal one-two punch going forward.

“We want them to be our line to really create chances every time they’re out there on the ice,” Turner said. “So that will be the expectation.”

The Bobcats’ lead wouldn’t last, as senior Jenna Dingledein tied the game seven minutes later for Mercyhurst. The Lakers were pressing hard and getting a flurry of shots on Quinnipiac junior goaltender Sydney Rossman, but it was senior Emily Janiga’s shot that produced the rebound to the right of the crease that Dingeldein tapped into the open net for a tie game.

The Bobcats would regain the lead with a strong forecheck from a veteran line. Senior Nicole Brown stripped a Mercyhurst defender of the puck and passed to her longtime linemate junior Meghan Turner in front of the net. Turner lifted the puck up and over Convery’s glove into a tight window for a top-shelf goal.

From there the Bobcats controlled the pace of play up to the final whistle. A five-minute boarding penalty on Cianfarano put them into a tight spot with 8:44 left to play.

The threat would be neutralized with a strong defensive effort, as Quinnipiac allowed only one real scoring opportunity to Janiga, who deked past a defender into the middle of the slot and fired a backhand on net. Rossman was up to the task and punched the shot into the corner with her blocker.

After the penalty kill, the momentum was all Quinnipiac’s as the Bobcats got Turner her first career win as head coach. “Any win is a good win. The captain [Cydney Roesler] presented me with the puck and I put it in our puck board. It was great.”

The sentimentality of the game is not the reason that Cassandra Turner will remember the game though, as she looks to improve the team going forward.

“There were a few players who stepped up on the penalty kill in that five minutes and made big plays,” she said. “I think because of that and the way we won I’ll probably remember this one.”