The No. 2 seed Quinnipiac women’s soccer team came out victorious against the No. 7 seed Marist Red Foxes in a tightly contested MAAC quarterfinals matchup. 

On Oct. 2,  these teams faced off in a double overtime thriller. Sophomore Rebecca Cooke opened the scoring in the 105th minute and gave the Bobcats the win, 1-0. 

But the history does not stop there. In the 2019 MAAC championship, Quinnipiac sent Marist packing in the first round, with a 3-2 victory. 

“We knew that this was going to be an emotional one,” said Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke. “Every game with Marist has been over the last couple of years. The fact that we knocked them out of the playoffs two years ago, we knew that there was a lot coming into this game.”

With their postseason lives on the line, both teams were ready to give their all on a windy Halloween afternoon. 

It was a slow start for both sides as defense reigned supreme in the early going. Marist’s goalkeeper Natalie Kelchner notched five saves in the first half alone. On the other end, Quinnipiac only faced two shots on goal and four shots in total. 

Near the end of the half, the Bobcats found an opportunity to put points up on the board. Marist was called for a hand ball inside the box, which set up senior Selena Salas for the penalty kick. Salas ended up sending her shot wide right and thus continuing the stalemate into the half. 

“This was a test to make myself mentally stronger,” Salas said. “As a team we keep pushing until the end, so I had to get over it and move on.”

In the 67th minute of the match, the Bobcats finally made their mark.

After a foul outside the box by Marist’s Bridget Dudziec, Salas was granted another chance to make a critical play, as she booted it inside to forward Gretchen Kron. Kron then netted a header to give the Bobcats the lead with only 20 minutes remaining. 

Marist got one more shot in the 86th minute to tie the game. Victoria Colatosti had a break away down the sideline and shot the ball into the lower right corner. However, Quinnipiac’s goalkeeper Sofia Lospinoso was there to make her fourth save of the game. 

Kron’s lone goal proved to be the game-winner as the Bobcats defeated Marist, 1-0, eliminating the Red Foxes from the MAAC tournament . 

With the victory, the Bobcats have advanced beyond the MAAC quarterfinal round for the third straight year. They will continue to make a run at the MAAC championship on Thursday, Nov. 4, against the Siena Saints.