HAMDEN, Conn. — The Villanova Wildcats have had the Quinnipiac Bobcats’ number in field hockey, posting a 6-2 record. The Wildcats have won the past five games dating back to 2017 with a score margin of 14-5. The Bobcats last win came back in 2016 when they won 5-2. On Friday, the Bobcats ended that streak with a 5-4 win in overtime. 

With this win Quinnipiac improves to 2-11 overall and 1-5 in the Big East. For Villanova, they fall to a 6-10 overall record and a 1-5 Big East record. 

For the first half of the first quarter both teams were at a stalemate as each team had steal after steal. It was tied at zero until Julianna Cappello scored her second of the season as her shot fell under the Villanova goalie Jordan Mcginley. It was eventually kicked in by Mcginley after she couldn’t find it, which gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. 

Only 52 seconds later, Amanda Middleman scored a goal for Villanova to make the score 1-1. An assist was given to Rachael Overlander for the Wildcats. After one quarter of play the score was tied 1-1. 

The second quarter was not as inviting as the first quarter, as there were no goals that came out of the period. Quinnipiac did dominate the period though as they outshot the Wildcats 3-0. Quinnipiac also had the only penalty corner of the quarter. This was another back and forth quarter as the two defenses were strong, not allowing any goals. 

Coming into halftime the teams were tied at one goal a piece. 

The third quarter started off hot as Quinnipiac started off the scoring with Emilia Massarelli scoring her seventh goal of the season 1:09 into the quarter. 

After 1:31 of game time Villanova answered back as Sabine de Ruijter scored her 10th goal of the season with the assist given to Raina Smolij for her first assist of the season. 

With 3:47 gone in the third period, Cappello scored her second of the game to put the Bobcats back up 3-2. 

After the third goal of the period the game was very back and forth as both teams combined for 11 shots in this quarter alone. Mack Vorel had an amazing save diving to the top right corner on De Ruijter to keep the Bobcats in front going into the fourth quarter 3-2. 

Another quick goal was scored by Lucia Pompeo with 1:33 gone by which was her first collegiate goal. This goal was assisted by Cappello which was her second on the year and Micaela Grajales which was also her second assist on the season. The goal gave the Bobcats a 4-2 lead. 

With 5:21 into the fourth quarter, Villanova received a penalty corner which Middleman scored with an assist to De Ruijter. This was Middleman’s second of the game, and made it 4-3. Middleman scored again with 7:37 into the fourth period which completed her hat trick on the day to bring her season total up to eight goals and tied the game 4-4.

After that goal each team was at a stalemate for the rest of the quarter. The Wildcats were awarded a penalty corner with 56 seconds remaining in the game but it came out to be nothing as the Bobcats defended it well. 

This brought the game into overtime where the Bobcats were given a penalty corner 2:30 into the overtime period. With this corner the Bobcats scored as Massarelli scored her eighth goal of the season to win this very competitive game. 

 At halftime coach Becca Main gave a very clear message to the team.

“We were doing a lot to get in front of the ball, a lot to attack with the ball and a lot to score but we weren’t putting that same effort into the recovery of what we were doing,” said Main. 

This showed in the second half, as the Bobcats scored twice in the third quarter. Coach Main talked about how they have had some momentum changers that have made her team connected. 

“When we are connected we are very very good and I think that is what we saw today with a lot of our players,” said Main.

The players believe this game gave the Bobcats great chemistry which will carry them to the game against Providence. 

“We are going to come out very intense against providence,” said Cappello.

Quinnipiac’s next game comes on the road as it travels to face Providence in its last Big East game of the season. Villanova will travel to Worcester, Massachusetts to face off against Holy Cross.