It was a sad day for Bobcat fans as Quinnipiac dropped their most pivotal game of the season against the Temple Owls 3-2 in overtime. With the loss, the Bobcats fell just short of reaching the Big East tournament in what would haven been their first appearence since joining the conference in 2016.
Despite the loss, first-year head coach Nina Klein applauded the team’s effort throughout the game with their season on the line.
“Hard work is one of our core values and I thought they showcased that today,” Klein said. “Obviously it wasn’t enough but I think they were a really hard-working group that left it all out there and they were able to make the game very exciting today.”
It was an uphill battle from the start for the Bobcats, who came into today’s game with a 6-9 record on the season and a 2-4 record in Big East play.
Quinnipiac also started the day with its playoff hopes out of its control. In order to clinch a historic first appearance in the tournament, the Bobcats needed a win plus a loss from either Uconn against Old Dominion, or Providence against Villanova. However, the team came into this afternoon’s matchup only looking to control what they could, and worry about outside help later. One thing was for certain, the Bobcats were going to fight.
And fight they did.
This turned out to be a very physical match throughout, with Quinnipiac leading the game in fouls 58-48 over Temple. This also reflected the fact that, especially early on in this game, it was a defensive slugfest with both teams being very aggressive.
The first two-quarters of this game saw multiple deflections in both teams’ attacking zones to break up scoring opportunities. There were also defensive tactics dished out, such as double teams being placed on Quinnipiac graduate midfielder Stella Tegtmeier by the Temple defense.
After being deadlocked at zero after the first quarter, Temple would eventually get the scoring started with a line drive shot by junior midfielder Devin Kinzel right past Quinnipiac goalie Cristina Torres around five minutes into the seconds.
That goal came after two straight penalty corners allowed by the Bobcats. However, Quinnipiac would counter with a goal of their own with 3:49 left in the second quarter. Tegtmeier made a nice pass on the left side of the attacking zone to junior forward Lucia Pompeo, who snuck one past Temple goalie Molly Frey for the score.
Little did the Bobcats know in the third quarter, the would get the outside help they so desperately needed. Old Dominion came back to beat Uconn 3-2 in overtime, after trailing much of the game, scoring with 90 seconds left in regulation to send the game to an additional quarter of play. This meant Quinnipiac’s playoff destiny was officially in their hands.
Things would not start off ideal in the fourth, however, as Quinnipiac would allow yet another penalty corner, which would lead to Kinzel’s second goal of the game for Temple to put the Owls up 2-1 just under a minute into the quarter.
Quinnipiac also started to feel desperation offensively as they committed 20 more penalties on offense, killing multiple chances to move the ball into the attacking zone to try and tie the game.
With just two minutes to go, Quinnipiac pulled Torres to put an extra player on field to try and score the game tying goal. A call that Tegtmeier answered when the team needed it most. In a rare instance where Quinnipiac was in the attacking zone in the quarter, Tegtmeier split two defenders with a behind-the-back move to get into the crease, fired a shot that deflected off of Frey and right onto the stick of graduate forward Sophia Pompeo, who then tipped the ball in on the rebound to tie the game 2-2.
Coach Klein complimented the team’s execution during that sequence.
“I’m really proud of them for the effort, and (that) great execution from them,” Klein said.
For the Bobcats, this would be the last time they celebrated in the game. Quinnipiac had a couple of scoring opportunities around four minutes into overtime, with shots from junior forward Emilia Massarelli and Sophia Pompeo, but that would be it for the Bobcats down the stretch.
The killer came late in overtime with a yellow card on Quinnipiac on Sophia Pompeo putting them a player down, and an all-too-familiar penalty corner goal by senior middfielder Myrthe Schuilenburg sealed the win for the Owls.
“Playing a player down is obviously pretty difficult.” Klein said. “I think that really hurt us but overall really good job to Temple.”
The Bobcats have one final game on Sunday against Drexel, but with their Big East tournament chances now gone by the wayside, Quinnipiac’s season will end there.
