Quinnipiac field hockey looked to continue its two-game win streak after victories against Providence and Wagner with a matchup against Patriot League opponent Lafayette Leopards. 

The Bobcats entered today with a 7-5 record, opposed to the Leopards’ 8-4. Lafayette is coming off a conference win against Holy Cross. 

Head coach Nina Klein said the team entered the weekend prepared for two high-level games.

“Going up to Providence on Friday, we knew it was going to be a tough matchup,” Klein said. “We just wanted to carry that momentum into today and not have a drop off.” 

Quinnipiac started the game off dominating possession within the first five minutes and got the first look in this game early with a shot for Francisca Eschoyez at the top of the scoring arc that would ring the post. Lafayette would later attempt a pass right in front of the net that would get intercepted by Quinnipiac’s defense. 

Lafayette would get another chance with a shot from Lauren Kurek that would be kicked away by Quinnipiac goalkeeper Cristina Torres.. Following that attempt Leopards would get a corner chance, but their shot would be unable to reach the net as it was blocked by the stick of Mo Quaile. 

A couple of minutes after Lafayette’s corner, Quinnipiac would get one of their own with Cameron Brower sending it out for a shot by Eschoyez that would be blocked by Mackenzie Switzer, ending the first quarter knotted at zero. 

The first 40 seconds of the second quarter would all be in the Leopards’ favor as they got the ball close to the net and would have an easy shot. The Bobcats’ defense would quickly smother the Lafayette attacker, preventing any easy shot on goal. 

Not only did Quinnipiac have great defense, but so did Lafayette. The Bobcats would get a corner attempt, which would be sent out to Eschoyez, whose shot wouldn’t reach the net as it would be blocked by Stella Malinowski. 

Following the first corner, Quinnipiac would get another attempt. This time the pass would be to Maaike Van Wensen and once again not be able to reach the net, being stopped by Lafayette’s defense. 

10 seconds after the last penalty corner, Brower would give a check to an opposing Leopards player and receive a green card, putting the Bobcats down a player for two minutes.

Quinnipiac would easily kill the penalty, allowing no shots on net and very limited chances for Lafayette. 

The last two minutes of the half would give the Bobcats another chance, but the shot from Roze Van Keulen would be shot right off the pads of Leopards goalkeeper Raffi Fragomeni to end the first half in a 0-0 tie. 

The action in the third quarter wouldn’t pick up until the last seconds, with Kurek running it down the field and taking a quick shot to which Torres would throw her leg out and barely be able to get a piece of it to end the quarter. 

The fourth quarter would begin with another great save from Torres, this time off the corner when Lena Thedrian would shoot one and Torres would dive and get her stick on it, knocking it out of play. 

Great Bobcat defense would be shown again with Maaike Van Wensen and Katie Shanahan stopping the attempt from Josephine van Wijk that would have been one-on-one with Torres. 

With around 6:25 in regulation left, a pass from Quaile to Van Keulen would be whiffed on but would later lead to a series of penalty corners for the Bobcats. Unfortunately, none of the penalty corners would lead to anything and they would all be stopped by the Leopards defense. 

With just under five minutes left in regulation, Lafayette’s Laila Pasic would get in by herself and would only have to beat Torres. Torres would leave the net in desperation and dive, preventing Pasic from putting the Leopards on the board and keeping the game tied to the end of regulation. 

The first overtime wouldn’t lead to much besides a couple of good looks for both teams and a few more saves for the goalies. But with just more than a minute left in overtime, Thedrian would have the ball five feet from the net and would be stopped by Torres once again. 

Klein praised her goalkeeper for her performance, saying Torres anchored the defense from start to finish.

“She was unstoppable today,” Klein said. “Everything she did anchored our defense. Even going into the second overtime, I told the team I would love to win in overtime, but if we go to shootouts, I have full trust in Cristina. She played out of her mind today.”

The second overtime would also take some time for action to happen but Torres would come up big one more time quickly stopping three different shots from Pasic. This would close out overtime and send it to a shootout, both teams stuck at zero. 

“The defenders are doing amazing. Jule, Maaike and Katie are doing really good,” goalkeeper Cristina Torres said. “The fact that I didn’t get scored on is because of them. They’re always running back and never stop. I think most of the weight is from them today.”

The shootout would open with Eschoyez being able to find the net, putting Quinnipiac up one. Lafayette would have Van Wijk, whose shot would be stopped but end up being called a penalty stroke for Malinowski, who would put it past Torres to tie up the shootout. Quaile would get an attempt and easily rocket it past Fragomeni and the Leopards would not match, putting Quinnipiac up 2-1. 

Both Donati and Malinowski would miss their shots, leaving it at 2-1. Shanahan would step up for her attempt and she would be able to put it to the back of the net. Lafayette would have to score here for any chance of winning. Thedrian would challenge Torres, but ultimately Torres and the Bobcats would come out on top in this one. 

After the game, Torres said her mindset going into the shootout was simple.

“I just wanted to get the win,” Torres said. “I just wanted my players to shoot, feel good, and score and they did. So I had to do my part.”

Quinnipiac will go back to Big East play in Hamden next Friday as they take on the Villanova Wildcats.