Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey (19-8-6, 12-6-3 ECAC) concluded the regular season sweep of the RPI Engineers (10-21-2, 7-13-1 ECAC) with a convincing 5-0 victory on home ice. The Bobcats were coming into this game off of a 1-1 draw against No. 3 St. Lawrence and a 1-0 loss to No. 4 Clarkson last weekend, but today’s victory got them steering in the right direction as the playoffs approach. Meanwhile, the Engineers went 1-1 losing to Dartmouth 4-0 and defeating Harvard 4-1 in their past weekend of play.
The Bobcats didn’t wait long to set the tone of the game as sophomore left winger Melissa Samoskevich notched her tenth goal of the season assisted by senior Danielle Marmer and defender Taryn Baumgardt less than four minutes into the opening period. After Quinnipiac managed to hold RPI off the scoreboard on their power play, center T.T. Cianfarano tallied her 13th goal of the season on a power play of its own assisted with crisp puck movement by captain Emma Woods and Baumgardt, who registered two assists on the game. RPI sophomore goaltender Lovisa Selander was peppered with Bobcat shots as she made 21 saves in the first 20 minutes alone while Quinnipiac maintained a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Engineers didn’t have a response for Quinnipiac’s offensive threat as two more goals were scored in the second period. Bedford New Hampshire native Meghan Turner tucked in a rebound for her tenth goal of the season assisted by freshman defender Kate Mackenzie to extend the Bobcat lead to three. While RPI couldn’t capitalize on a few missed opportunities because of the puck on edge, Kenzie Lancaster snipped the fourth Bobcat goal of the game right over the left shoulder of Selander as Quinnipiac held a comfortable 4-0 lead after the second period of play. RPI tallied just nine total shots on goal after 40 minutes of regulation.
Sophomore center Randi Marcon finished the scoring for Quinnipiac just 2:20 into the third period with wide open rebound goal effectively set up by freshman Sarah Eve Coutu-Godbout and Lancaster. Baumgardt and Lancaster both had a multi-point night in the victory. RPI notched just 15 shots on goal in the game while letting up 57. The Engineers went 0-for-1 on the power play as they were forced to block multiple shots during the majority of the game heavily out weighing the Bobcats in that category 18-8.
Quinnipiac senior goaltender Sydney Rossman registered a program-tying 25th shutout on the season with the victory, yet she has a different mindset for the future.
“We just want to win games,” Rossman said. “It’s a team accomplishment so I have to give my teammates a lot of credit for that. We have to play playoff hockey every night no matter who we play.”
Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner is satisfied with how tonight’s game turned out for the team collectively.
“We’re excited about what we saw tonight on the ice,” Turner said. “RPI usually gives us issues, but luckily tonight was different
Turner believes the team is headed into the ECAC playoff tournament in tip-top shape.
“We’re playing the best hockey right now from top to bottom and that’s awesome for playoff time approaching,” Turner said.
Lancaster thought the victory gave the team momentum headed into tomorrow’s season finale senior night game.
“Today was a huge confidence builder for everyone and it’ll help us going into the playoffs,” Lancaster said. “This senior class cares a lot about the team; Woods says it to everyone all the time.”
Women’s hockey concludes their regular season at home on senior day against the Union Dutchwomen on Saturday. With a victory, they climb to the number four spot in the ECAC standings in preparation for the postseason tournament.
