Quinnipiac has looked upon the line of center Randi Marcon and wingers Kenzie Lancaster and Danielle Marmer, the ‘energy’ line, when it has needed an offensive pick me up throughout the early part of this season.
Saturday afternoon, amidst the blizzard happening outside, the Bobcats found success from the ‘energy’ line again as an early goal from Marcon started the scoring off for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac never looked back after Marcon’s goal, defeating the Big Green of Dartmouth 3-1.
“They have been our energy and our grit. We started them today and I think they set the tone for the game and really helped us to get a lot of pucks on net,” head coach Cassandra Turner said about the Marcon line. “They outwork other teams, they are hungry to win pucks back, they are willing to go to the net to get screens and that’s exactly what happened on that goal, we had a screen and Randi was able to create a good opportunity.”
Marcon’s goal came after a scrum along the boards released the puck to open ice. Marmer gathered the puck and rifled off a strong shot, leaving a rebound at the high point. Marcon corralled the rebound, made a move and struck for her fourth goal of the season to push the Bobcats out ahead 1-0.
The Bobcats added to their lead in the second period when Kenzie Prater won the face-off back to Taryn Baumgardt who had space in front of her. Baumgardt reined in the puck and rifled one on net. After dodging a multitude of bodies in front, the puck found the back of the net to give Quinnipiac the 2-0 lead on Baumgardt’s fourth goal of the season.
The Bobcats extended their lead in the early part of the third period when Melissa Samoskevich gained possession of the puck deep in the offensive zone. Samoskevich shredded one defender and made another move to work her way into the slot before sliding one past Dartmouth’s Robyn Chemago to push the Bobcats lead to 3-0.
The Big Green struggled against the Bobcats’ defense all day. The Big Green finally was able to get a shot on net halfway through the second period.
“They talk about it,” Turner said about the Defense’s efforts to stop pucks. “They talk about limiting shots and they have really aggressive goals and it is really neat to see.”
Dartmouth finally got one past Bobcats’ goaltender Sydney Rossman when assistant captain Kennedy Ottenbreit connected with a one timer from face-off circle to cut the lead to 3-1. However, Dartmouth’s efforts to ignite its offense and a comeback were stopped there.
“I think our team really showed our depth today yet again,” Turner said.
The Bobcats will return to the ice next weekend when they head to New York to face Eastern College Athletic Conference opponents Cornell and Colgate.
