Quinnipiac sophomore Kaitlyn Notarianni rebounded a shot off Monmouth goalie Melissa Katz less than five minutes into overtime during Sunday’s field hockey match. Her second shot, lifted over Katz, was sent into the far corner of the net and was the reason why the Bobcats happily left the field with a dramatic and successful 2-1 NEC win.
Sunday’s hard-fought win was a product of the visible amount of effort that the Bobcats put into the game. In the strong wind and rain, the Bobcats triumphed over Monmouth with goals scored by senior captain MacKenzie Liptak and Notarianni.
Just under two minutes into the game, the Bobcats were awarded an offensive corner. Christine Grady’s shot on net was deflected, but Liptak got the ball and knocked it in for the first goal of the game.
For the next 68 minutes, both teams worked hard and executed strong defensive skills. With only 48 seconds left in regulation, Monmouth received a corner in front of the Quinnipiac net. Michelle Pieczynski shot the ball just out of reach of Bobcat goalie Jenna Grossman to send the game into overtime.
More than 74 minutes had been played when Notarianni’s game-winning shot past Katz ended the game. The win put Quinnipiac in a tie with Monmouth for third place in the NEC standings.
“This was a big rivalry for us,” Notorianni said. “The fact that we got a goal right at the end-it was a big thing for us to just put it away as soon as we could, ’cause we had the game the whole entire time.”
Quinnipiac head coach Becca Kohli was also very happy with her team’s results, and remains optimistic for the team’s future matchups, especially those against NEC opponents.
“We have to play well and win those games to control where we go and how we end up,” Kohli said. “I saw a lot of good stuff today.”
Quinnipiac will host Yale in a non-conference game tomorrow at 3 p.m., and then travel to Bryant for an NEC matchup on Sunday.
“We’re going to change up some corners and fine tune for Yale, to play a high, high-paced game and hopefully take that into the NEC games.”
