In its second to last game of the regular season, Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey clinched the ECAC Regular Season Championship in a 9-0 win over Union.
“This is a great day for our program,” Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner said. “There is no better finish to that game than having our seniors out there on the ice.”
T.T. Cianfarano led the way for the Bobcats with 4 goals and 1 assist, while Nicole Connery added 2 goals and 1 assist in midst of the Bobcats’ rout.
It took just 8 shots for the Bobcats to get on the scoreboard after Miranda Lantz’s wrister snuck into the net for her first of the season and her collegiate career.
Shortly afterwards, Nicole Kosta potted her 10th of the season on a rebound, then Cianfarano scored her first of the night on a skilled individual effort to increase the Bobcats lead to 3-0 at the end of the first period.
In the second period, Cianfarano took over.
Picking up right where she left off in the first, Cianfarano scored a power-play goal for her second of the night. That goal lead Union to pull starting goalie Melissa Black.
Cianfarano wasted no time shooting on the goaltender in relief, and scored 6 minutes later for the hat trick. She then wired a heavy shot, off the post and in, 4 minutes after that for her 27th goal of the season.
With that goal, Cianfarano tied former Bobcat Kelly Babstock for most goals in a single game with 4 goals.
“I was more happy for the seniors and winning tonight,” Cianfarano said. “I couldn’t be more happy for them; there are no words to explain it.”
The Bobcats took a 6-0 lead into the third period until Emma Woods scored her first of the night just five and a half minutes into the final frame of play.
The Bobcats wouldn’t stop there, as Nicole Connery registered both the 8th and, quickly afterwards, 9th of the night, both coming off of Nicole Kosta feeds, to fittingly close the scoring on a night Quinnipiac played for the seniors.
“We’ve played with each other every now and then,” Connery said on her chemistry with Kosta. “We work well together, we cycle, we keep it going.”
Although this game served as a major accomplishment for the No. 4 Bobcats, Turner noted that this is not where the season ends.
“They’re gonna live in the moment tonight and celebrate this,” Turner said. “But when we come back tomorrow we’re going to be ready to move on to our next task.”
The Bobcats take on RPI tomorrow night at home, on senior night, in hopes of ending the regular season on a high note.
“After [the Championship win] flushes out a little, we focus on the next game,” Connery added. “Every game is important and you don’t want to take it lightly.”
