On a chilly afternoon in which Quinnipiac celebrated the eight senior players of its class of 2023, Lafayette stole the spotlight for a 2-1 overtime victory off the stick of Josephine van Wijk.
In a pre-game ceremony, Stella Tegtmeier, Sophia Pompeo, Bevan Gebhardt, Nina Santore, Emilia Massarelli, and team captains Olivia Howard, Juliana Capello, and Micaela Grajales walked down the fifty-yard line to each receive a commemorative plaque.
“I think it’s such an emotional day,” Grajales said. “I started thinking how I got here, and about all my teammates, and how much I can miss them.
The eight Bobcats were accompanied by family, but several international players who could not have parents in attendance were flanked by former Quinnipiac head coach Becca Main, who had been a mentor for every step of the class’s journey since recruitment.
“She’s like the international extra bonus parent,” said current head coach Nina Klein. “She came and walked a couple of our international players (whose) parents couldn’t come. So that was really sweet.”
As the game got underway, fans got a glimpse of the future of the program, as sophomore Cameron Brower tipped in her first goal of the season off a deep pass from junior Lucia Pompeo to put the Bobcats up 1-0.
“She has really hit her stride in the last couple of weeks, and I’m really proud of her,” Klein said. “The ability to be on-ball, to draw corners, and to be our attacking stronghold.”
The defense was the deciding factor on Quinnipiac’s senior day. The Leopards created a plethora of chances, outshooting the Bobcats 12-6 throughout the game until Stella Malinowski beat Cristina Torres on a rare penalty stroke.
Lafayette finished the comeback on an overtime penalty corner conversion, the Leopards’ 14th corner opportunity of the afternoon. While the Bobcats’ came up short on their senior day, they remain confident in the team’s ability to prepare and execute a complete game.
“We have to work as a unit, not everyone being individual, which is something we’ve been working on this whole season and something that’s come along a long way,” Howard said. “With that focus, I think 60 minutes is so doable.”
If the class of 2022 were the “culture changers” of Quinnipiac field hockey, then the class of 2023 could be defined as a class of “personality”.
“They have personality,” Main said in her guest appearance on the gobobcats.com game broadcast. “[They] have over the years really learned to play together and respect each other. Just really fun when you see an introvert and an extrovert, someone who’s very verbal, someone who’s not, [it’s] a really great group.”
Quinnipiac will lean onto unity and veteran leadership ahead of the season’s most pivotal game, as one more conference tilt awaits against the Temple Owls. With a win, the Bobcats would be one step closer to the program’s first-ever BIG EAST tournament berth since joining the conference in 2016.
Nina Klein’s squad would also need Old Dominion to beat UConn and Villanova to take down Providence, initiating a three-way standings tiebreaker that would punch Quinnipiac’s ticket. On paper, the Bobcats need to play their best field hockey and hope that the dominos fall the right way, but no one is more excited for the challenge than the class of 2023.
It is a group that has been through it all — a pandemic, ranked opponent upsets and the end of an era with the retirement of Main and the introduction of Klein. Now, they’ll fight for a spot at the BIG EAST tournament in Philadelphia in the twilight of their NCAA careers.
“We’re just very fortunate enough to have our extra year of eligibility and we are so lucky that we were invited back to take it. And this year has just been a great run,” Howard said. “Now we’re in a position to make history.”
Quinnipiac will host Temple on Friday at 3 p.m., with each squad’s tournament aspirations on the line.
