After a month of non-conference play, the Quinnipiac women’s soccer team finally began the games that “count” this past weekend as it hosted Wagner College and Long Island University. The Bobcats started conference play at 1-0 with a 2-1 victory over the winless Seahawks on Friday, but Sunday’s game against the Blackbirds of Long Island was a different story.
Quinnipiac dropped a 3-0 decision to Long Island on a warm, sunny afternoon, falling to 1-1 in the NEC. The Blackbirds seemed to be in control from the opening whistle, scoring four minutes into the game. They tallied another goal off a misplay in front of the net just a minute and a half into the second half, and then scored on a deflection off a Quinnipiac defender that put the game out of reach with about 22 minutes left in the game.
“We weren’t able to physically scrap and match their style of play,” head coach David Clarke said. “The girls play like that in practice, but we have to be able to carry it over to the games.”
The Blackbirds were coming off a 1-0 loss at Central Connecticut State on Friday, and it looked like they were not ready to leave the state of Connecticut 0-2 in the NEC.
Quinnipiac was 2-0-1 in its last three games against Long Island, including a tie at LIU last year despite being outshot 16-3. The Blackbirds outshot Quinnipiac 15-2 in this game, but made sure they were going to come out of here with a win. The Bobcats had been undefeated at home, but it was apparent that the stat was going to change midway through the second half.
“They just wanted it more than we did,” Clarke said. “They won the individual battles and when you have 11 girls on the field winning the 50-50 balls, you deserve to win.”
Last Friday, the Bobcats got off on the right foot in the NEC with a 2-1 victory over Wagner College. Sophomore twin sisters Kate and Leisl Lissfelt scored the Quinnipiac goals in the second half and sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Lusto made four saves to begin conference play at 1-0.
The two goals came within eight minutes of each other as Kate Lissfelt put the Bobcats up 1-0 with 26 minutes to play in the game, scoring off a rebound in front of the net. Just four minutes later, her sister scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season off a great ball from sophomore Brittany Lockwood, whose five assists also lead the team. Wagner cut the deficit to 2-1 with less than 19 minutes to play, but that was as close as it would get.
“You hope to win your conference games at home,” Clarke said. “We have four games at home, and if we can win all of them, then we’ll see what we can do on the road.”
Quinnipiac continues conference play this Friday at Sacred Heart University. It is the first of three straight games on the road before the Bobcats return home on Oct. 21 to play Robert Morris.
