The Quinnipiac University women’s soccer team continues to put together a string of early season wins. On Friday, the Bobcats notched their latest victory, this time against Iona College in a 3-1 decision.

The Bobcats improved their record to 4-1 with the win. It was also their third consecutive victory. Iona fell to 1-6-1 on the season.

Leading the Bobcats with two goals was junior midfielder Kate Lissfelt, while freshman forward Amber Sidoti added the team’s third goal. Head coach Dave Clarke was impressed with how Lissfelt played up front for the team.

“Kate played very well. We played her up front where she’s very capable,” Clarke said. “She got a couple of chances and finished them.”

Lissfelt’s first goal came early in the game in the seventh minute. With an assist from her twin sister, Leisl Lissfelt, Kate lobbed the ball over Iona goalkeeper Ticiana DiCarlo, giving the Bobcats a quick 1-0 advantage.

Eleven minutes later, Lissfelt took matters into her own hands to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead. Once again she let loose with a shot that soared past DiCarlo, this time unassisted. The ‘Cats held this advantage going into halftime.

In the second half, Iona cut the Bobcats lead to one in the 61st minute. They notched their first goal of the contest after they were awarded a penalty kick following a handball in the penalty area. Liz Allan beat Quinnipiac goalkeeper Sarah Lusto to make the score 2-1.

At this point, it looked like momentum was shifting to the Gaels side as they tried to tie the score. Iona took eight of its ten shots in the second half, most of them coming during a late-second half push. The Bobcat defense was under immense pressure, but they refused to fold. Clarke noticed his defense’s strong effort during this period.

“I credit the defense and their hard work,” Clarke said. “They weathered a ten minute storm when Iona scored off a penalty kick and kept them from tying the game. That allowed Amber Sidoti to score soon after and put the game away. It was defensively a collective team effort.”

Fifteen minutes after the penalty kick, Sidoti’s goal put the Bobcats up 3-1 and shifted the momentum back in favor of the Bobcats. Sidoti’s goal came off a pass from teammate Rachele See and put the Bobcats in control for the rest of the contest.

Clarke thought his team’s performance was a good one considering the game was played in a difficult road environment.

“I was very happy with the game today,” said Clarke. “We played on a tough surface (turf) away from home and we played to win.”

On the tough turf surface, Lusto came up with five saves while her counterpart DiCarlo came up with two. For the season Lusto is carrying a 0.40 goals against average per game.

In action this past weekend, the Bobcats dropped a 1-0 decision to Providence. Their tilt at Holy Cross this Sunday is their final game before they open their NEC schedule at Robert Morris on Sept. 29.