Women’s Hockey Loses First Game of Season Against Princeton

Ryan Johanson

The Bobcats’ unbeaten streak stopped at 13 games as the Princeton Tigers won in Hamden 1-0. Quinnipiac falls to an 11-1-2 record on the season and a 5-1 record in ECAC play while Princeton improves to a 5-1 record in ECAC Hockey. 

The first period was just like the last game against Princeton in which no team scored due to it being a very back and forth stalemate. 

The Bobcats came out of the period with 13 shots to Princeton’s 4. 6 of those shots came on the powerplay after Shannon Griffin of Princeton tripped up a Bobcat which gave Quinnipiac their first powerplay of the game. 

Quickly, into the second period, there were a few one-timer shots by Lexie Adzija, Courtney Vorster, Jess Schryver, and Maya Labad. 

Then came the first power play for Princeton when Vorster was called for interference. That power play went nowhere with only 2 shots as the defense of the Bobcats stood strong. 

For Princeton’s second powerplay of the game, Zoe Boyd tripped up a tiger which sent them on the man advantage. It would prove to be a problem for the Bobcats as Maggie Connors scored her 6th of the season after a shot from the blueline by Stef Wallace hit off Corinne Schroeder’s leg pad which fell for Connors to tap in. This gave Princeton the 1-0 lead on the Bobcats.

After the goal, the Bobcats had many different scoring chances as Sadie Peart, Taylor House, and Renee Saltness had their shots saved by Princeton goalie Rachel McQuigge.   

The third period was like the first period with no goals scored and was a dull period. There were a couple opportunities for the Bobcats that didn’t result in anything to write about. The Bobcats did lead in shots for this period though with 10 to Princeton’s 5. 

There were a couple of penalties during the period as Peart was called for tripping. During the latter end of the penalty, House hit Sharon Frankel after the whistle which sent House into the penalty box for tripping and also Frankel for embellishment. 

The Bobcats pulled Schroeder with 1:20 left in the game still down 1-0 to give the Bobcats a man advantage. Even with the extra attacker, the Bobcats couldn’t find the back of the net. 

“It didn’t go our way today,” head coach Cass Turner said. “You can see in other sports like soccer and hockey, you can totally outplay somebody and not win.” 

After going 0-2 on power plays, Coach Turner talked about how she did see good things even though they didn’t score. 

“They are really getting connected with one another,” Turner said. “They really are finding the play that is open or there are certain plays that they have to create.” 

After suffering their first loss, the Bobcats will prepare to take on two more ECAC foes. 

“We want to be really hungry around the net,” Olivia Konigson said. “We really need to be hungrier to get the puck backdoor to score.”

The Bobcats look to get back to their winning ways as they go up to upper New York for two games against Cornell and Colgate. For Princeton they also play those exact teams just the opposite days.