Quinnipiac lacrosse has shown struggles this season, starting off 2-7. These struggles have especially been shown off at home by starting off 0-3. The Bobcats were looking to get their second-straight win after beating Merrimack 13-9 on Wednesday.
Quinnipiac started the scoring off two minutes into the game when junior Nate Watson got his 24th goal of the season, followed by junior Nick Meoni getting his seventh goal of the season to put the Bobcats up by two.
Marist was able to get a point on the board from sophomore Josh Smith. Quinnipiac juniors Cole Marsala and TJ Coffey answered right back to get the Bobcats up by three against Marist to end the first quarter.
Quinnipiac started the second quarter off in a disappointing fashion by allowing two goals within the first three minutes of play. The Bobcats didn’t blink, though as junior Johnny Karafa got his sixth goal of the season and brought the momentum right back to the Bobcats.
The second quarter continued to show the Bobcats’ weakness as Marist was able to score three more goals. Quinnipiac was able to get one goal before the half from first year Duncan Zielke. That made six different players score the six goals for the Bobcats in the first half.
Though the Bobcats were able to tie it up before halftime. They were outscored by Marist 5-2 in the second quarter and they were desperately looking for better scoring coming out of the half.
Unfortunately, it was Marist who started off where they left off and went up 7-6 within minutes of the start of the 3rd quarter. But once again the
Bobcats didn’t fluster and both Meoni and Watson got their second goals of the game to bring the Bobcats up by one.
Watson wasn’t done yet as he scored his third goal of the game just minutes later. Sophomore Jake Gallose kept the momentum going for the Bobcats.
The game continued to be a back-and-forth scoring fest as Marist brought the game back to a two-score game but Meoni wouldn’t let that fly and he got his third of the day and brought the Bobcats back up by three to end the third quarter.
The Bobcats had a much better showing in the third quarter and flipped the script from the second quarter by outscoring Marist 5-2.
The Bobcats’ momentum faded away to start the fourth quarter as Marist scored four goals and kept the Bobcats scoreless for over half the quarter and was able to take the lead.
The Bobcats finally had enough of the beatdown from Marist and Zielke got his second goal of the game to tie the game up with six minutes left.
The Bobcats weren’t able to take advantage and take the lead, which allowed Marist to take the lead instead. With three minutes left the Bobcats couldn’t tie it up and Marist had a fourth quarter comeback to win the game 13-12.
The Bobcats’ streak of not winning at home since 2024 will continue. Head Coach Mason Poli said, “there’s been growing pains the past year and a half. Though the outcome didn’t turn our way today but the product on the field is starting to show for itself.”
Though with a loss, Poli is “proud of the boys and I know they’re feeling in the locker room right now. I think we played well offensively but defensively we had our issues.”
The Bobcats will now prepare themselves to go on the road to play Sacred Heart next Saturday. Then they will try once more to get their first win at home of the season in almost two years against Mount St. Mary’s on April 11.
