Quinnipiac field hockey looked to bounce back after their loss to Liberty against the Merrimack Warriors. The Bobcats held a 4-3 record while the Warriors entered with a 1-5 record. Merrimack was trying to keep momentum going after a 4-3 win over fellow Northeast Conference foe, Mercyhurst.
Early on in the first quarter, Cameron Brower had a chance to score but it was knocked away by Merrimack Goaltender Isabelle Gardner. A sideout set up a chance from Francisca Eschoyez to one time the ball past Gardner giving Bobcats an early 1-0 lead.
Another close chance came when the ball was lifted into the Merrimack crease and Mo Quaile had an opportunity that was padded away by Gardner. Quaile would get a second chance and did not miss. She maneuvered around Gardner and put the ball in the near corner, giving the Bobcats a 2-0 lead
Soon after, Eschoyez entered the zone and flung one on net that took a strange bounce off of Quaile and deflected into the net. Quinnipiac was off to an almost perfect 3-0 start with Quaile’s second goal of the game.
The second quarter had more of the same with the Bobcats dominating offensive possession early. Eschoyez yet again made her way into the offensive crease and put a backhand shot into the net for her second goal and the Bobcats’ fourth. Later on a two-on-one breakaway chance for Martina Calveira was knocked aside by Gardner, but kept the theme of great Bobcat chances going.
“Going into the game we did set a team goal of two goals a quarter,” head coach Nina Klein said after the game, “I just felt like with the team we have right now, we could accomplish that.”
Quinnipiac made another incursion with just under two minutes left in the half as Ava Bleier netted her first goal of the season and as a Bobcat. Quinnipiac held a 5-0 lead going into halftime.
“I love this team, so obviously as a transfer scoring here is really exciting,” Bleier said on her first goal in Hamden. “It was an awesome blur.”
In the third quarter, a series of three Quinnipiac penalty corners was stopped by Merrimack, the second which was a penalty shot changed into a corner by a Warrior challenge. The Bobcats would come right back and score a sixth goal with a shot by Rozemarijn Van Keulen. The Warriors made one real push into the Bobcats zone but the Quinnipiac defense snuffed it out
If there is any negative for the Bobcats to take away from this game, it would be the lack of conversions on penalty corners in the second half. Quinnipiac could live with the fact that it came in a game they led by six goals, but if it was a close game against a conference opponent, there would be a lot more pressure to convert set piece opportunities.
Merrimack had another opportunity to get on the board, but the shot went just wide of the Quinnipiac net. The Bobcats finally got over the hump on a penalty corner in the second half with Eschoyez scoring her third goal of the game, tying her own single game points record with nine, which also happened last year against Merrimack.
“I just play, I’m really happy about it but I just play and have fun,” Eschoyez said on breaking the record.
Another Bobcat advance would end in a second goal by Van Keulen. With their eighth goal of the game, Quinnipiac tied the program record for goals in a game, dating back to 2004, as well as breaking the record for largest goal margin.
“It’s a great feeling after Friday to have a great attacking as well as our defense,” said Klein. “They love playing the game at a high level.”
The Bobcats will head to Norfolk, Virginia to take on Big East opponent Old Dominion on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
