On a cold, windy Wednesday afternoon the Quinnipiac women’s soccer team defeated Saint Peters by a final score of 3-1. Niagara gave the Bobcats an the other piece to their playoff push by defeating Marist 3-0 to enter the postseason.
The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team (10-6-1, 6-4 MAAC) was looking for not only a victory against the Saint Peter’s Peacocks (1-13-1, 0-9-1 MAAC) in their season finale, but also a Marist loss against Niagara to secure the fourth seed in the MAAC playoff tournament. Quinnipiac went a perfect undefeated 8-0 at home throughout the regular season; the only women’s soccer MAAC squad that can claim such an achievement.
The Peacocks, who were the underdog in this contest, actually got the scoring started with a floater of a goal by Saint Peter’s junior Alexandria Couto in the ninth minute as it flew over Quinnipiac’s goalkeeper Devan Malcolm. This goal occurred as a result of a defensive miscommunication among the Bobcat backline defenders.
The Bobcats responded with a goal of their own as senior Jess Fontaine, who ranks in the top 10 leaders in MAAC points and points per game, netted her fifth goal of the season assisted by freshman Ally Grunstein in the 31st minute. Despite the double digit shots and goal kicks forced by Quinnipiac in Saint Peter’s defensive third, the game went to halftime knotted up at one goal a piece.
The second half was dominated by the Bobcats in terms of possession and ball movement as Quinnipiac registered a total of 10 corner kicks, 14 free kicks and 26 shots attempted. There were countless scoring opportunities for the Bobcats in the first 22 minutes of the second half. There were two particular golden chances; one by Fontaine in the 52nd minute as her shot sailed over the defending cage of Saint Peter’s goalkeeper Kelly Jamison, as well as senior Sarah Pandolfi’s powerful strike in the 54th minute directly off of the crossbar that bounced straight down on the goal-line as Nadya Gill pushed the rebound just wide left of the cage.
The Bobcats were ever so patient though as Gill forced a yellow card foul in the 66th minute near the net. Senior Kelly Caruso struck the free kick to the far side of her teammates’ positioning, and after it was redirected on goal, the rebound bounced to freshman Kylie Lance where she tapped in her first goal of the season that ended up being the go-ahead game winner. One of those 10 Bobcat corner kicks resulted in Quinnipiac’s third goal in the 75th minute as sophomore defender Jess Gargan also tallied her first goal of the season as she performing a bad-angled nutmeg move through Jamison’s legs which gave Quinnipiac an insurance goal.
Jamison, who also made her first start of the season at the goalkeeper position, kept the Peacocks in the game during second half while the Bobcats were peppered her with numerous shots, two of which in close within the last five minutes of this game. Prior to that, Malcolm made a great save of her own in the 82nd minute as she denied St. Peter’s sophomore Barbara Paiva as Malcolm came off of her line to eliminate the angle and make what was a sliding save getting a piece of the shot with her hand to retain the 3-1 Quinnipiac lead.
Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke gave credit to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks for continuing to battle throughout the game.
“They did a great job fighting until the end and keeping us on our toes to make us really earn this win,” Clarke said. “The second half was all a matter of being patient and finding the right shots to take against their defense.”
Clarke’s only worry is about what’s in his team’s control concerning the beginning of the MAAC playoffs.
“Of course we want any game we can get at home, but that doesn’t matter because we’re only focused on what we can control,” Clarke said. “Regardless of who we play, we’ll be ready to go.”
