Quinnipiac field hockey looked to keep its hot start to the season going, taking on Ivy League foe Columbia on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions came in as conference leaders with a 3-0 record. Jacinda Solari Etcheberry came in as Columbia’s leading scorer with three goals on the young season, and Goalkeeper Margot Houle came in second in the Ivy League in total saves with 16.
The Bobcats came in looking to get back on track after a 4-2 loss to Boston University on Friday, moving their record to 3-2. In their third season under head coach Nina Klein, Quinnipiac looked to get momentum going again ahead of the start of conference play, where they hope to make the Big East Tournament for the first time in program history.
Francisca Eschoyez came into the game tied for first in the conference in goals with three and goalkeeper Cristina Torres came in leading the Big East in goals against average and saves.
In the first quarter, the Bobcats had two penalty corner chances within the first five minutes and were unable to convert on either.
“I’m really proud of them. I think they are going to be top in the nation when it comes to defending an attacking penalty corner,” said head coach Nina Klein after the game.
A little while later, the Lions entered the offensive zone, with Sophia Abate with a shot that was initially saved by Tores but got past her and rolled in the net, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead. The goal was Columbia’s only shot of the opening quarter.
The Bobcats made a push to start the second quarter, including a centering pass that was just out of the reach of a wide-open Rozemarijn Van Keulen. Van Keulen then made another entry into the scoring circle and fired a shot in the net to tie the game at one.
The Lions responded a little later with a breakaway chance for Abate, but she pushed it just wide of the far post. The rest of the quarter went by pretty quietly and the game remained tied at one going into halftime.
“Going into the third we really wanted to keep the momentum up,” said Klein.
The third quarter began with a Columbia penalty corner that was saved by Torres. The Bobcats had their own penalty corner chance a few minutes later, but a shot by Cameron Brower hit the side of the net.
The Lions defended yet another corner chance a little while in. Soon after the ball came to Van Keulen, who took a backhanded shot that deflected off Houle’s blocker to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead. A Columbia set piece chance was saved by Torres lying down with her leg pad.
“Going into the fourth, I said ‘I want another goal’ if it was 3-1, I knew there was a good chance we would come away with the win,” said Klein
Early on in the fourth and final quarter, Columbia’s Izzy Kaczor came into the zone on the left flank but Torres came off her line and made a great diving save. Later on, Eschoyez worked her way into the crease and weaved around the Lions’ defense and put the ball in the net to give the Bobcats a 3-1 cushion.
Columbia would get a goal back with less than three minutes to go, with Kaczor putting one in over the stretch of Torres. The Lions pulled their goalie and forced a penalty corner with 1:54 left to go. After a long video review, the corner was deflected and batted away by Katie Shanahan.
“I was super grateful for the video reviews because it calmed them down and took the momentum out of the game… we stayed composed and really stuck to the gameplan,” said Klein
Columbia forced yet another penalty corner, but it was defended by the Bobcats. Quinnipiac held off the Lions and earned the 3-2 win.
The Bobcats will open conference play on Friday when they take on the Liberty Flames at 1:00 p.m.
