It was game day in Hamden, Connecticut as the Harvard Crimson made the trip down from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Quinnipiac came into this contest after coming out on top with a 3-2 win after a very tough game against Dartmouth University on Friday night.
For Harvard, they entered M&T Bank Arena searching for their first conference win after a winless season so far with a record of 0-5-1.
The Bobcats would strike first with 13:29 left in the first period as Maya Labad would get the Quinnipiac power play rolling early. Labad’s power play goal came 24 seconds into the man advantage off of assists from Sadie Peart and Kate Reilly.
The Bobcats would score their second of the afternoon courtesy of Julia Nearis as she tapped the puck into the net. Nina Steigauf threw the puck towards the front of the net looking for Nearis but the puck deflected off of goaltender Alex Pellicci’s stick and fell right to Nearis’ stick. The Bobcats’ domination in the first period continued as Steigauf broke down the ice on a two-on-one and slotted home a beautiful top-shelf goal putting the Bobcats up by three.
The Bobcats kept their foot on the pedal as 27 seconds later, with 2:36 left to play in the first, Kahlen Lamarche would be fed by Peart and put the puck in the back of the net while falling to her knees for her celebration.
Head coach Cassandra Turner would mention just how content she was with the way her side played in the first period and how they would be relentless and hungry for more goals.
As the second period started the first thing of notice was a goaltender switch for Harvard as Daisy Boynton took the crease for Pellicci. The first ten minutes of the frame would pass by, but the game would stay 4-0 Bobcats.
Harvard’s Shannon Hollands had a golden opportunity coming down on a breakaway but her first shot and rebound shot would get shut down by Angers. The shutout for Angers would slip away due to the Bobcat’s defensive miscommunication. Gwyn Lapp pounced on the opportunity and put the puck into the wide-open net making it a 4-1 game in favor of the Bobcats. This goal would be the last of the action in the second period.
The third period started as Peart would get her first goal of the night making it a 5-1 game. Shortly after, with 13:33 to go the Bobcats struck with a power play goal as they cycled the puck around and eventually threw the puck to the net.
Peart was there yet again to bat the puck into the back of the net. It was a hat trick day in Hamden as this game’s goal-scoring would end with a Peart natural hat trick goal.
“She’s just the type of player that you trust,” Turner said. “She’s always looking out for her teammates. She’s always looking out for what’s best for the group. She’s shown that every year and you know, she’s a phenomenal leader, she wants to be a coach. She thinks about it like a coach and she’s going to be a phenomenal coach because of all those reasons.”
Despite very little center experience in her collegiate career Peart was asked to step up in the role for the Bobcats recently and she spoke about such a transition.
“Yeah, I played center all high school so I kind of knew some of the basics. But sometimes when people get hurt, you just got to step up and obviously like having a team the way we do they helped me with a lot.”
Steigauf would joke in the press conference saying, “I couldn’t win a faceoff today but that’s fine” referring to her play in the faceoff dot.”
It was a great day for the Quinnipiac women’s hockey as Peart led the team with five points while Reilly followed with three points. Lamarche, Steigauf, and Labad would also register two points on the day.
Now the Bobcats have a turnaround as they will face Post University in a non-conference game on Wednesday night. For Harvard, they will have an ECAC matchup with Cornell at home in Cambridge on Friday night.
