The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team pushed their win streak to seven with a 2-0 win against the Niagara Purple Eagles on Saturday afternoon. This win moves the Bobcats to 5-0 in MAAC play this season.
It started off as anyone’s game until the Bobcats were able to dominate possession of the ball for most of the half. The Bobcats had 13 shots to Niagara’s six. Both the Purple Eagles and Bobcats recorded two shots on goal.
In the fourth minute, Purple Eagles sophomore forward Isabella Mazzaferro took a shot that just missed the top right corner, giving Quinnipiac an early scare.
In the 12th minute, graduate forward Courtney Chochol had an opportunity to open the scoring for the Bobcats, but missed a one-on-one opportunity against Niagara’s senior goalkeeper Maddie Crosbie with a shot that went wide right.
The biggest chance of the first half for the Purple Eagles came in the 15th minute when a shot from junior forward Morgan Kulniszeski was deflected onto the crossbar by graduate goalkeeper Sofia Lospinoso.
The Bobcats opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when Chochol dribbled the ball all the way down to the touchline and delivered a great cutback pass to first-year midfielder Klara Bengtsson. Bengtsson’s shot went in the top right corner to score the first goal for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats had a slow start to the second half that led to Mazzaferro forcing Lospinoso to make another great save that sent the ball over the crossbar.
Junior Milena Branco for the Bobcats shot a curler from her left foot that appeared to be heading for the bottom left corner but was saved by Purple Eagles goalkeeper Crosbie.
Branco later played a great through ball for Chochol where she dribbled into the 18-yard box, but her shot just missed wide left of the net.
The Bobcats sealed the win when they scored their second and final goal of the game when junior Molly Andrews’ shot from inside the 18-yard box went into the bottom left corner of the net.
“We still should have won the game more comfortably,” head coach Dave Clarke said. “We got too much transition you know, players focusing on getting the third goal, rather than just you know what, don’t need to run right now, manage it, manage my load and stay, but we’ll tidy that up.”
Along with adding to their win streak, the Bobcats extended their streak of clean sheets to seven. Head coach Dave Clarke is pleased with how his team has defended during their win streak.
“My tone, my attitude defensively, blocking shots, getting out, side foot clearances, not giving up anything, that’s the mentality that we drive home so credit to them,” Clarke said after the game. “Everything we adopt is that it’s 0-0 or 1-0, every single minute of the game.”
The Bobcats play Marist on Wednesday afternoon Oct. 9 and will look to add an eighth game to their win streak.
