Heading into the university’s Thanksgiving break, the No. 7 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team closed out the weekend falling to the No. 5 Colgate Raiders 4-1.
Between Quinnipiac first-year Felicia Frank and Colgate senior Hannah Murphy standing in net for each squad respectfully, defense within the crease was put under the spotlight with a combined 54 saves on 59 shots.
“I think as a first-year goalie, she plays with much more poise than a first-year goalie and she showed that today,” said Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner.
Entering tonight, the Raiders had scored on the power play in 16 of their 17 games and were first in Div. I in goals (22) and third in power-play percentage (.338) entering the weekend. On the other side, Quinnipiac led the nation in the penalty-kill at 96.4%.
After graduate defender Kendall Cooper gave the Bobcats the lead 9:15 into the game, fading away from the net in the right circle on a rebound from graduate forward Maddy Samoskevich’s shot, Colgate’s powerplay dominance kicked in.
With 4:40 remaining in the first period and a skater advantage, senior forward Neena Brick created a rebound opportunity for graduate Kristýna Kaltounkova to tie the game as Frank was caught in the butterfly position.
Entering the second period tied, the Bobcats were positioned to take the lead after graduate Kathryn Stockdale found the net after graduate forward Jenna Donohue’s shot deflected off and over Murphy in front of the goal line. However, the goal was called off due to an offsides on the play’s initial entry.
With the goal removed, goaltending and defense kept both teams off the scoresheet during the period with the fewest shots in the game combined at 16.
“We had great sticks,” Turner said, “We were lifting sticks, we were battling hard, we were blocking shots. You look at the zone time but then you look at the actual shots that hit our net and it’s very different, you would think that it would have been more but I thought we really battled hard throughout the second.”
The third period saw Colgate take over in the first five minutes. A fastbreak 2-on-1 opportunity found Brick and junior forward Alexis Petford playing tic-tac-toe before Brick gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead.
Within the last five minutes, Colgate struck again on the power play as Kaltounkova scored her second goal of the game and 100th of her career. It was her fourth power-play goal in three games as well as her 11th multi-point game on the year (60th in her career).
“She’s a great offensive talent,” said Turner. “She has a good touch around the net, she plays tough, and not surprising that’s her 100th goal.”
As the Bobcats look to bounce back after an unsuccessful weekend, the team looks ahead to win their fifth consecutive Nutmeg Classic. Quinnipiac will start the tournament against the hosting Sacred Heart in Fairfield on Friday, November 29 at 3:00 p.m.
