The Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team skated competitively with the Clarkson Golden Knights throughout the game but surrendered two late goals, losing 2-0, on Nov. 21. The loss dropped the Bobcats to 2-12-1 on the season, 1-3-1 in the ECAC. For Clarkson, the win improved their record to 5-5-3 on the season, with a 3-1-1 record in ECAC play.
Although the Golden Knights registered 13 shots on goal, Quinnipiac played solid defense, with the help of sophomore goaltender Tia Wishart, to prevent Clarkson from scoring. The Bobcats missed two important power play opportunities in the first period which served as some of their better scoring chances of the game.
It was more of the same throughout second period. Clarkson continued to control the puck and rack up the shots on goal, but Wishart made save after save for the Bobcats. It wasn’t until Clarkson got a power play opportunity with senior defenseman Trudy Reyn’s tripping penalty, that Clarkson forward Genevieve Lavoie snuck a goal past the glove hand of the unsuspecting Wishart for the goal, improving the score to 1-0. Clarkson forward Britney Selina was credited with the assist.
In the third period, the Bobcats kept playing the Golden Knights tight and began to start pestering Clarkson goalie Lauren Dahm. The third period was anyone’s game until near the end of the game, Clarkson’s Marie-Jo Gaudet caught Wishart off guard, and blew a shot past her stick side for the goal, elevating the score to 2-0 with less than a minute left in the game. Selina was credited with the assist, her second on the night. Half a minute later, the horn sounded and the Bobcats suffered their 12th loss of the season.
“Overall, I was really impressed with the effort. I thought Tia [Wishart] played a good game in net, and everything was solid besides a couple of break downs,” said head coach Rick Seeley.
“We have to come out with our heads in the game, focused, and play solid defense,” Wishart said.
Wishart finished the night with 39 saves in the game, but dropped her record as a starter to 1-3-1.
After the game, Seeley had some encouragement for the upcoming games.
“If we play solid D like we did for the most part tonight and keep them to the outside we can get them [St. Lawrence] frustrated,” Seeley said.
The Bobcats took on ECAC rival, St. Lawrence on Saturday, Nov. 22. Quinnipiac played well with the fourth ranked Saints throughout the game but lost, 2-0. The loss dropped their record to 2-13-1, 1-4-1 in the conference. With the win, No.4 St. Lawrence improved to 8-2-2 overall and 5-1-0 in conference play thus far in the season.
In the first period, the Bobcats had a great scoring opportunity with a power play 11 minutes into the game, but every goal scoring chance was blocked by the St. Lawrence defense and their goaltender, Brittony Chartier. The Bobcats defense did a good job of blocking shots on their end of the ice.
Thirteen minutes into the game, the Saints got a power play opportunity on a QU penalty, and capitalized. St. Lawrence’s Karell Emard snuck the puck past junior goaltender Nanna Holm-Glaas for the goal. Emard was assisted by Tara Akstull and Britni Smith. With three minutes left in the period, the Bobcats got another opportunity with a power play but once again all attempts were rejected by the defense of St. Lawrence.
In the second period, the Bobcats had two important penalty kills early in the period, a result of Quinnipiac’s defense and goaltending. On the offensive end, the Bobcats wasted another power play opportunity, failing to capitalize on the advantage due to St. Lawrence’s defense. Late in the period, St. Lawrence caught Quinnipiac defense off-guard to score the goal. The goal was scored by Tara Akstull with an assist from Carson Duggan.
The Bobcats kept fighting in the third period, starting the period with another penalty kill. Two minutes into the period, Quinnipiac got another scoring opportunity but all attempts were denied by St. Lawrence. Just a minute later, the Saints got another chance because of a Quinnipiac penalty but the Bobcats shut them down for their second penalty kill of the night.
Eight minutes into the period, the Bobcats got another chance to score but were stopped by the St. Lawrence defense. Late in the period, the Bobcats gave St. Lawrence another chance but Quinnipiac stood strong, recording their third penalty kill of the period and keeping the score at 2-0. The horn sounded and the scoreboard read 2-0, in favor of St. Lawrence. The Bobcats may have lost their fourth straight game but they did play strong defense against the fourth ranked St. Lawrence Saints, recording five penalty kills and limiting them to only two goals.
Quinnipiac kept this game close despite being outshot. The Bobcats finished the contest with 20 shots on goal to St. Lawrence’s 34.
Bobcats goaltender Holm Glaas recorded 32 saves on the night, but dropped her record to 1-9-0. St. Lawrence goaltender Brittony Chartier recorded 20 saves.
