The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team entered Saturday’s game scoreless on the season.

And in their most dire moments, the Bobcats turned to last season’s scoring leader to pick up the slack.

Behind Jessica Fontaine’s second-half goal, Quinnipiac won its first game of the season on Saturday at the QU Soccer Field, defeating the University of Vermont 1-0.

“[The girls] had a great week of practice,” Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke said. “I think they deserved to win. They have nothing to fear moving forward.”

Fontaine scored with nearly 25 minutes remaining in the game. Sophomore Sarah Pandolfi was credited with the assist. Pandolfi beat her defender down he right side of the field, then crossed the ball to Fontaine, who put it into the back of the net.

“It is a great feeling,” Fontaine said. “ We all worked together and we owed it to [Natalia] Grodzki to put one in the net.”

Grodzki made a pair of saves on the afternoon en route to an impressive shutout. Her counterpart, Vermont goalie Ally Ramos, also had two saves on the afternoon.

Prior to the win, Quinnipiac had suffered three of its four losses by one goal.

“We’ve played well in most of the games this season,” Clarke said. “We set the schedule to be a tough one. We were expected to lose [the first] four games.”

Still, Clarke acknowledged that losing did take its toll on the team, and that it was nice to get the first win out of the way.

“It wears on you,” Clarke said. “It builds pressure. They’re better than their record says, but you are what your record says.”

The last five meetings between Quinnipiac and Vermont have been decided by one goal.

Quinnipiac, now 1-4 on the year, is back in action Friday. The Bobcats travel to Saint Joseph’s for a 7 p.m. kickoff.