[media-credit id=2258 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team emerged victorious from its Saturday matchup against the Fairfield Stags. With a final score of 3-0, the Bobcats secured their first conference victory of the season, improving to 1-0-1 in the MAAC, and 4-4-1 on the year.

The Bobcats looked in control from the opening kickoff. They maintained possession for a large majority of the first half, doing an excellent job of preventing scoring opportunities for the visiting Stags. They Bobcats outshot the Stags (8-6) in the first half, but the quality of each teams’ shots varied greatly. Five of the Bobcats eight first half shots (62 percent) were on goal, compared to just one of the Stags six (16 percent) ending with the same result.

Inside of the first 20 minutes, Quinnipiac came close to putting in its first goal. A block by senior defender Katrina Friedman led to a promising possession for the Bobcats. She carried the ball up to the midfield line, where she passed up the right sideline to a streaking Lauren Triglione, a sophomore midfielder. Triglione took advantage of the beautiful pass and took the ball all the way to the 18-yard line, where she sent in a cross. On the receiving end of the pass was senior midfielder Madison Borowiec, who put the ball just inches over the crossbar from 10 yards out. This would be just one of 12 total shots attempted by the Bobcats.

In the 29th minute of the first half, junior forward Ally Grunstein was subbed into the game to replace senior forward Al Pelletier. This move by head coach Dave Clarke proved to be the biggest of the game. Just two minutes after entering the game, Grunstein centered a ball to redshirt sophomore Kelsey Goldring, who snuck a shot passed Fairfield’s goalkeeper to record her first goal of the game and second of the season.

The scoring didn’t end there. Just minutes before halftime, Grunstein worked her magic once more, sending in a cross to freshmen midfielder Selena Salas, who was able to put the ball in the back of the net quickly upon receiving the ball.

“I mean Selena is, for a freshman, her soccer IQ helps her to be a true 10,” Clarke said. “To have a player like her, it’s tremendous and it’s just…she brings a calmness to the play. For a young freshman, she’s only going to get better. She’s a game changer.”

[media-credit id=2258 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]It was Grunstein who proved to be the biggest difference maker in Saturday’s game, however. She finished the game having assisted on all three goals, connecting with Goldring once more in the second half to tally her third assist. Goldring finished the day with two goals, with Salas netting the third.

“You always look to win.” Clarke said. “Then a good performance, score some goals, then a clean sheet, then get players in. It’s rare that you get all five.”

Today the Bobcats did accomplish all five, but there’s more competition ahead.

In preparation for a home game against Iona on Wednesday, Clarke said he would prepare his team the same way he did for today.

“You can’t take anything for granted. What’s good about this team is that we’ve got a lot of seniors who know what the MAAC is about. The motivation for Iona is that Iona beat us last year. We won’t dwell on it as much but use it as a casual reminder.”

Having won three of their last four games, the Bobcats hope to ride this hot streak into Wednesday and take home another conference win when they’ll host Iona at 3 p.m.