The Quinnipiac Bobcats took the field Sunday for their second game of the weekend, defeating the Maine Black Bears by a final score of 2-0 following a heartbreaking overtime loss against UConn two days prior.
Each team failed to convert on the penalty corner, with the Bobcats going 0-4 and the Black Bears tallying a staggering 0-6 mark, in part to some very athletic Cristina Torres saves.
The Bobcats came into this game with a chip on their shoulder following the UConn loss, with the players knowing they needed this win.
“We showed up with a chip on our shoulders after Friday…we lost in overtime and that sucked, I’m not gonna sugar coat it.” said forward Sophia Pompeo. “We made ourselves a promise that we weren’t gonna lose two games in a weekend the rest of the season and we committed to that.”
One massive component of the Bobcats’ victory was the connection between Pompeo and sophomore forward Cameron Brower, the latter of which was playing in place of star forward Emilia Massarelli, who was held out of the game with an injury.
“(Brower) is awesome to work with because she is so great at taking feedback and listening,” Pompeo said. “She’s being thrown into these games more recently and she’s working so hard, it’s like all you can ask for in a line mate and a teammate.”
Head coach Nina Klein also praised the team’s defensive structure between goaltending and position players, as it has been a goal they have been working toward all season.
“We were able to reach for that defensive effort that we were looking for…we’ve been keeping a shutout in our mind and it’s kind of been an elusive goal, but today it was really awesome to see Cristina [Torres] step up and our backfield,” Klein said.
The strong defensive structure held Maine’s top forward Mallory Maksie completely off of the scoresheet, as Torres held strong with 11 saves on the day and her first clean sheet of the season.
“We’ve been waiting for it, me and Nina have been chatting about it for a while now,” Torres said.
Torres has also been working with Klein and assistant coach Abby Lucas very regularly, as both were championship-caliber goaltenders during their time together at UConn.
“It’s great, we have the same vision of how to play, what we want for this team, working on defense… which is great because we’ve been struggling with that for the last year,” Torres added.
The Bobcats will next face a familiar and formidable foe, as they return to Big East play against the Liberty Flames. The team and coaches are ready to take on their next opponent and know not to think too much when facing a team of Liberty’s caliber.
“I just think we can’t make it more than it is, I think we need to show up and play our game and not play the way they want us to,” Pompeo said.
The Bobcats will look to replicate the experience they had today with control across all ends of the field, as they take on Liberty at home on Friday at 1 p.m.
