On Saturday afternoon, the Quinnipiac Bobcats beat the Princeton Tigers 3-1 which broke a four-game losing streak.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Bobcats were on a horrid skid that saw them drop four straight ECAC matchups dating back to Jan. 13. After beating Dartmouth 5-3 in their latest victory, the Bobcats were ranked third. Since the slide, they’ve dropped down to ninth in the country.
As for Princeton, they also hadn’t won since Jan. 13, going 0-2-2 over their stretch. Overall, they were 5-7-5 in the ECAC, good for seventh place in the conference.
The game got off to a slow start, with only four shots on goal during the first four minutes of play. Quinnipiac finally made noise a little over five minutes in, with sophomore defender Zoey Uens taking a huge rip on a shot that was deflected and sent bouncing off the glass. Just a few minutes later, forward Maya Labad poked the puck away from Princeton’s Gabby Kim and had a breakaway. However, Labad was unable to capitalize as Tiger goalie Jennifer Olnowich made the save.
Halfway through the first period, the game remained scoreless. Princeton won nine of the first ten faceoffs and was able to keep the puck away from the Bobcats for the most part.
With just under three minutes left in the first, the Bobcats got on the board. Alexa Hoskin was tied up on the boards with two Tigers vying for the puck, Reilly swooped in, nabbed the puck and wrapped it around the net. As she looked up coming around the net, she passed to Sophie Urban who gave a powerful left-handed shot that found its way into the net.
This was the first goal of the season for Urban, a senior forward. After the game, she said that this was “a long time coming” and something that she’s been “working hard at” to achieve “this year”.
The first period came to an end with the Bobcats up 1-0, but still losing the faceoff battle 14-4. Shooting-wise, the two teams were more or less even.
Just five minutes into the second, first year forward Kahlen Lamarche gave a great backward pass to Labad, who was right in front of the goal. Olnowich rushed to her side of the net, but Labad was then able to squeak a pass out to Reilly, who sent a missile into the back of the net before Olnowich could reposition herself.
Quinnipiac was playing stellar defense deep into the second, outshooting the Tigers 17-2 after 11 minutes and not allowing a shot on goal until six minutes left in the period. Although, even when Princeton did ultimately get a shot to Bobcat goalie Logan Angers, she was able to clamp it before any damage could be dealt.
With two minutes left in the second period, senior defender Kendall Cooper was able to go upper deck with a shot to bury the third goal of the game for the Bobcats.
At the start of the third period, Reilly was called for a delay of the game that gave Princeton
a five-on-three power play. In response, Quinnipiac played extremely tight defense that allowed Angers to save the shot from Dominique Cormier.
With three minutes left in the game, Angers made a great deflection, but the Tigers regained control of the puck. Princeton defender Maggie Johnson took a big rip, but again Angers got her body in front of it. It was the Tigers’ Sarah Paul who got the loose puck first and with a huge part of the net open, she ended the shutout and got the Tigers on the board.
A minute later, Princeton pulled Olnowich, but was unable to muster any true offense and the Bobcats held onto their 3-1 victory.
After the game, head coach Cass Turner said that after the recent skid they had to “’re-evaluate and get better'”and that she was “really proud” of the team’s performance today
With games coming up against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, third and second in the ECAC respectively, The Bobcats will look to use this win as momentum to start a winning streak of their own.
