After struggling for most of the season, the Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey team put together an impressive road weekend.
On Friday night, the Bobcats took down the Brown Bears 5-4, in an offensive slugfest. On Saturday, Quinnipiac skated to a 3-3 tie with rival Yale at Ingalls Rink in New Haven.
On Friday, Brandice Moniz got the Bobcats on the scoreboard first when she found the back of the net with just less than seven minutes remaining in the first. The Bears would answer in the second when Hayley Moore scored to the tie game at 1-1. A few seconds later, Antoinette Maldonado answered with the first of her two goals as she put the Bobcats back up by one.
Once again Brown would tie the game as Sasha Van Muyen scored with 2:45 left in the second period. The teams would head to the third tied at 2-2.
Only 35 seconds into the third period, Janine Duffy put the Bobcats back on top 3-2.
However, the lead wouldn’t last for long, as Brown would score back-to-back goals to go up 4-3. The first goal came off the stick of Erica Kromm with 14:14 remaining in the third period. Jaclyn Smith’s goal put the Bears out in front for the first time all game.
The Bobcats would show some resiliency and would not go down without a fight. Moniz notched her second goal of the game with 6:02 left to play. Not to be outdone, Maldonado scored her second goal of the game with 3:13 remaining and put the Bobcats on top for good at 5-4.
Bobcat goalie Tia Wishart made 50 saves for Quinnipiac on Friday night against the Bears. The next day, Wishart pulled the same trick and stopped 50 shots against the Bulldogs giving her a grand total of 100 for the weekend.
When the Bobcats traveled to take on rival Yale on Saturday, they once again jumped out to an early lead. Elyse Cole scored only 2:40 into the game and the Bobcats were up 1-0. Yale’s Crysti Howser scored on a power play to tie the game at 1-1. In the second period Cole nabbed her second goal of the game and thirteenth goal of the season. Her goal put the Bobcats up 2-1.
In the third period, Wishart saw 27 shots from the Bulldogs. She was able to keep 25 of them out of the net. Yale’s Bray Ketchum evened the game at 2-2.
A few minutes later, the Bobcats took the lead when Kelley Davies scored her third goal of the season. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the Bulldogs erased another one goal deficit when Howser scored her second goal of the game with 2:26 remaining in the game.
The Bobcats picked up three points this weekend and currently it in a tie for tenth place with Brown. Quinnipiac returns to action on Friday Feb. 15 when they will take on Dartmouth College at 7 p.m. at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. On Saturday Feb. 16 the Bobcats will host Haravrd at 4 p.m.
