Led by Nicole Kosta and Nicole Connery, Quinnipiac’s women’s ice hockey topped Dartmouth 3-1 at the TD Bank Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Bobcats entered with three consecutive losses prior to Saturday’s win, including its first defeat at home on Friday evening against Harvard.
Still, the Bobcats wouldn’t let the three-game skid mentally wear them down.
“We didn’t feel tired,” Conner said. “We knew how important this game was. We needed to break through the mental barrier. Overall, we had a good pace throughout the game.
Dartmouth had good scoring chances early in the first period of play.
A referee’s review removed a Big Green goal early in the first period. Left defenseman Eleni Tebano’s slap shot deflected into the net off the blades of Lindsey Allen. The ruling was that Allen kicked the puck into the net, taking the goal off the board.
Later in the first period, Quinnipiac’s penalty-kill, the nation’s seventh best, held Dartmouth scoreless by preventing them from taking any shots.
Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley was pleased with the Bobcats’ penalty kill.
“Our penalty kill was pretty good,” Seeley said. “We’re aggressive. We want to outman them even though we’re shorthanded.”
Then, nearly eight minutes into the second period Dartmouth’s Kennedy Ottenbreit committed a costly interference penalty, setting up an opportunity for the Bobcats to strike.
With 12:20 to play in the second period, Shiann Darkangelo made a pass behind the net to Kosta, whose wrist shot made it past Dartmouth goaltender Robyn Chemago to make it 1-0 Quinnipiac.
The goal is Kosta’s eighth goal of the season, and second in as many nights. The Bobcats are 19-2-3 when scoring first.
Later in the second period, freshman T.T. Cianfarano made a cross-ice pass to Nicole Connery. Connery proceeded to net her ninth goal of the season, giving Quinnipiac a 2-0 advantage.
Then, at 15:47 in the third period, senior Erica Uden Johansson forced a steal from Dartmouth defenseman Zoe Brennan and shuffled the puck toward to Kosta who netted her second goal of the game to make it 3-0 Bobcats.
Seeley commented on the performance of his goal scorers.
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“[Connery and Kosta] are both very talented,” Seeley said. “They’re just talented players who came up in big situations. Both setups were awesome for Kosta. [Cianfarano] had a great individual effort to set up Connery.”
Dartmouth answered with a goal of its own from Brooke Ahbe, but Quinnipiac goalie Chelsea Laden and the Bobcats would hold on from there.
Laden posted 16 saves on the day.
“I thought it was definitely a tough, emotional game to get up for after last night, but I thought we gutted it out and played well,” Seeley said. “We controlled most of the game and had some great finishes on the goals.”
With the remainder of its schedule consisting of conference play, Seeley thinks the team is up for the challenge.
“I think our team believes we’re the best team in the conference,” Seeley said. “The next two weekends are very tough. We know it’s a tough conference. There is no easy game. It’s a great conference.”
With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 21-4-3. On tap for the women’s ice hockey team next will be a pair of home games against Cornell and Colgate next Friday and Saturday at the TD Bank Sports Arena.
