In any game, it is important to limit the number of mistakes made. When those mistakes result in points against you, it makes it hard to come back. The Quinnipiac Bobcat women’s hockey team learned that the hard way.
The Bobcats (13-12-2 overall, 9-7-0 ECAC Hockey) made two costly defensive turnovers in the second period, resulting in two goals for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (12-10-6 overall, 8-7-4 WHEA) and ended up falling to the Wildcats by a score of 4-2. Brooke Bonsteel and Melissa Samoskevich each notched a goal for the Bobcats and goaltender Abbie Ives contributed 23 saves in the loss. Despite the loss, head coach Cassandra Turner had many positives to take away from the game.
“Even though we lost today, I am happy with so many things that we did,” Turner said. “We pressured the puck in a way today that we hadn’t and I thought we had a great team energy. That’s a good UNH team and they made more plays today to score goals.”
After an uneventful first period where the score remained 0-0 heading into the second frame, the offense on both sides exploded. Quinnipiac’s Grace Markey picked off a pass in the attacking zone and fed Bonsteel who tucked in a backhand shot at 2:02 in the period. This marked Bonsteel’s eighth goal of the season and Markey’s first point of the season.
However, just 1:14 later, an errant D-to-D pass from Quinnipiac was picked off by Carlee Toews, who fed Carlee Turner for a tip-in goal to tie it up. Then, less than three minutes later, Kenzie Lancaster hit a streaking Samoskevich who was behind the UNH defensemen and Samoskevich made no mistake of her breakaway, potting her 11th goal of the season.
This marked the last time the Bobcats would tickle the twine. The Wildcats picked up the intensity and outworked Quinnipiac in the last half of the second, resulting in two goals before the end of the frame. Meghara McManus stole the puck from Alicia Barry along the goal line and beat Ives glove side to tie it up yet again at 10:47, then Carlee Turner scored her second of the game, firing a shot five-hole on Ives to take the lead.
“We need to be sure that when we score, we’re in a better place,” Coach Turner said. “We need to be a little more conscious of playing a smart game and still continuing to attack, and I think we lost that a little bit in the 2nd.”
The final frame was again, much like the first, quite uneventful, as the Wildcats played more defensive and prevented the Bobcats from gaining any offensive pressure. Amy Schlagel added an empty-netter and UNH walked away with a 4-2 victory.
In addition to the two defensive miscues, Quinnipiac did not capitalize on any of their power play opportunities, going 0-for-4, which contributed to the loss.
“The power play, I thought was pretty good,” Turner said. “If we were to re-watch it, we had some great chances around the net, we just didn’t make that final play to put it in the net. I think we can continue to shoot more and get more traffic and get those second shots. I don’t think we need to be as patient as we were.”
Quinnipiac will have a chance to redeem themselves, as they take on the same UNH team tomorrow. However, Turner did feel as though some adjustments did need to be made.
“We can move the puck a little bit better,” Turner said. “We had moments to play faster today, and if we were a little bit better in terms of where we were in support and having more time and space would make for better passes. I think if we’re able to play that way we will have more opportunities.”
Quinnipiac will look to bounce back against UNH tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the Frank Perotti, Jr. Arena in Hamden, Connecticut.
