The Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team played a tough non-conference slate last week with matches against New Hampshire and Boston College. The country’s No. 18 team got back into ECAC play on Friday night at the TD Bank Sports Center and got back to their winning ways.

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Kelly Babstock scored two goals in the final seven minutes of play to put the game out of reach for the Bobcats. Nicole Kosta and Brittany Lyons each added one for themselves as Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey defeated RPI (2-11-2, 0-5-0) by a final score of 4-1 on Friday evening.

“It was maybe the most complete team effort since I’ve been here,” Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley said. “Top line to bottom line, all 16 players.”

The Bobcats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a goal at the 6:29 mark from Nicole Kosta, she received the puck from Kelly Babstock behind the net, skated it around the back of the net and squeezed it in between the post and goaltender Kelly O’Brien’s pad.

Quinnipiac (9-7-2, 5-3-1 ECAC) concluded the first period with 13 shots on goal. The Engineers O’Brien turned aside all but one of the shots sent in her direction. Quinnipiac goalie Victoria Vigilante stopped all eight shots thrown at her in the first stanza.

O’Brien made amends for the goal in the first period by withstanding a deluge of Bobcat scoring opportunities in the second. The Bobcats, led by Nicole Brown, more than doubled their scoring chances in the first period as they tested RPI with 17 shots on goal.

O’Brien came within 53.4 seconds of recording a seamless second period. It would be Brown who led the charge with a team-high four shots in the period and she also proved to be the catalyst for the Bobcats scoring play in the final minute.

Brown, from deep in her own end, sent a pass to Amanda Colin at mid ice. Colin received the pass and streaked down the right side of the ice before zipping it in front of the net to a streaking Brittany Lyons. Lyons redirected the pass into the top left corner of the net giving the Bobcats a 2-0 lead as they headed into the final period.

With a goal from RPI’s Lauren Wash just 2:06 into the third period the Engineers didn’t let the Bobcats run-away with the game.

“There were times when we gave them too much of a gap,” Seeley said when he was asked of the performance from his defense which only gave up 15 shots on the night. “That’s when things got a little desperate when they were attacking our zone. I thought they had a great overall performance especially when things got desperate, and they got a little tired. I thought they recovered really well.”

It remained a 2-1 contest up until the final 6:55 of the game when Kelly Babstock, who had been having a relatively quiet night on the score sheet, took the reins.
She scored on a wrister over the glove of O’Brien to increase Quinnipiac’s lead to 3-1. It was the Bobcat’s third goal on their 41st shot of the night. About four minutes later she added another to make it 4-1 game. It was her 18th goal of the season.

Quinnipiac had a 45-15 advantage in shots on goal. It is the fourth straight game in which they have outshot their opponent by at least 10. However against UNH and Boston College they were unable to convert those opportunities into goals.