Quinnipiac women’s soccer picked up its second conference win in its return home, defeating the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers 5-1. The Bobcats improved to 2-3-2 on the season and got back into the win column after a 2-2 tie at Niagara. The Mountaineers fell to 3-5, and are now 1-2 in conference play.
Mount St. Mary’s will get back on the bus, still not having a win in Hamden, as Quinnipiac moves to 8-0-1 at home against the Mountaineers. When asked if this game was a revenge game after last year’s loss, Morgan Cupo jumped out and said, “yes, 100 percent,” as she said the win feels nice, knowing “they should have won last year.”
To start the game, the Bobcats came out firing, immediately applying pressure on the Mountaineers’ defense. Klara Bengtsson rifled a shot, but an incredible save was made by Mount Saint Mary’s goalie Abigail Makela, stopping all the momentum for the Bobcats.
In the 11th minute, Bengtsson delivered a beautiful through ball to Morgan Cupo, who made a defender miss and sank it bottom right to put Quinnipiac up 1-0.
Four minutes later, Quinnipiac struck again after a deflection off the foot of Klara Bengtsson, which fell perfectly to Bianca D’Onofrio, who finished with a beautiful shot for her first goal as a Bobcat and a 2-0 lead
Head Coach Dave Clarke described D’Onofrio as a newfound essential leader, especially given the youth of the team. “Having another player who has two years under her belt,” is huge for the team and she has “embraced it” as she proves to be an essential player, Clarke explained.
After the two quick goals, the Mountaineers created pressure of their own, as they built a sequence of breakaways after consistently winning possession in the middle of the field.
Quinnipiac was able to stay strong on defense, thanks to Madison Alves to help maintain the lead.
The Mountaineers, trying to get on the board, went on ten minutes of great midfield play and applied breakaway pressure on the Bobcats’ defense. However, good defense by the Bobcats kept the score at 2-0.
The Mountaineers were able to defeat opposing pressures thanks to defenders Nicole Wilson and Anika Berger, who kept Quinnipiac out of their area.
Just then, Bengtsson added to her electric half with an incredible goal that deflected off the crossbar and fell just across the line, making it 3-0 Bobcats going into halftime.
To start the second half, Quinnipiac struck first nine minutes in after sending Morgan Cupo on a through ball. She was able to finesse her way to getting her second goal of the game after putting the Bobcats up 4-0.
The Mountaineers started another sequence of breakaway pressures, as they bolted down the field and created a two-on-one with only Jarvis back. Suddenly, Corey Anderson came flying in and out of nowhere, and made an incredible stop for the Bobcats, keeping the score at 4-0.
Soon after, the Mountaineers sent Taylor Simmons on a breakaway, who chipped the ball over Jarvis as she charged out of the net, giving the Mount their first goal with 26 minutes left in the game.
Clarke described this series of breakaways as “something they need to work on,” and he believes that this is “more about the whole season” when trying to fix this issue.
Quinnipiac responded when Racquel Alexander zoomed past the entire defense, and made the keeper miss, before giving a cross over to Ava Young as she found the middle of the net for her first collegiate goal, which gave the Bobcats the impressive 5-1 win.
Overall, it was evident that both sides really wanted this win, as it was very physical on both sides, with four yellow cards handed out during the game.
Despite the score, the Mount had a proven star in their keeper, Abigail Makela, who had multiple very impressive saves. They will look to get back into the win column at home against Niagara on Wednesday.
The Bobcats’ eyes are also set on Wednesday, as Cupo says the win today “was huge,” and they “needed this confidence” before going into their next game against the Fairfield Stags at 2:30 p.m.
