The third time was not the charm for the Bobcats, as the Quinnipiac women’s soccer team fell to the Brown Bears, 1-0. The loss was the third straight for Quinnipiac, which is now 0-3 on the season. The Bobcats fought hard in the loss, especially Natalia Grodzki and the defense, which held the Bears scoreless for the final 78 minutes of play.

The game was ultimately decided very early on. In the 13th minute, Brown forward Mika Siegelman scored on an assist from Chloe Cross to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. That would be the only goal of the contest as neither team could find any rhythm on the offensive end. The Bobcats had several chances to tie the game but could not capitalize. Toward the end of the first half, the Bobcats threatened to even the game when Joanna Proctor nearly scored on a booming free kick from the half field line. A few seconds later, Brown goalie Amber Bledsoe would make the save on a shot from Shannon Larkin, Quinnipiac’s only shot on goal of the day. Early in the second half, Aine McKeever had a chance to score on a header but the ball sailed just right of the net.

Despite every reason to be downtrodden after their poor start to the season, Quinnipiac continued to fight hard throughout the contest.

“They battled and they kept plugging away,” Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke said. “We didn’t give up. There were a couple of things we did well.”

In particular, the Bobcats shined on the defensive end. Goaltender Natalia Grodzki had five saves, keeping Quinnipiac in the game until the final second.

“You can’t make mistakes and expect not to get punished. They punished the mistakes on the goal, it was collective,” Clarke said. “We can’t get dragged into a game, they’ll learn from it. I’m disappointed in the goal, disappointed in the manner of how we gave it up and we didn’t take one of the chances we created.”

The Bobcats will return to the pitch on Sept. 8 against Saint Joseph’s.