[media-credit id=2228 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]It took seven games, but the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team (1-4-2) secured its first win Friday night at the People’s United Center shutting out the Brown Bears (3-1-0) 4-0 in dominant fashion.

The Bobcats came storming out to start the game, forcing several turnovers and icings on the forecheck. They controlled the possession game throughout the first period, creating a handful of high percentage looks on their nine shots on goal.

“We really got the goalie moving, we were ready to attack in transition off of turnovers,” Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner said.

Junior forward Kate Mackenzie got the Bobcats on the board midway through the first off a cross-slot feed from freshman defenseman Zoe Boyd and senior forward Melissa Samoskevich. Five minutes later, sophomore forward Taylor House found the back of the net for her team-leading fourth goal of the season. Freshman forward Lexie Adzija assisted House weakside by the crease to assist on the goal after a feed from junior defenseman Kati Tabin.

As the second period began, the Bears attempted to swing the momentum by controlling play and getting shots on goal. However, an interference penalty put the Bobcats on the power play. The Bobcats were 0-for-22 on the power play heading into the game and were hungry for a goal.

Adzija ended the power play drought by banging home a rebound (her second point in the game) after a shot from senior defenseman Anna Kilponen, who received the puck off a pass from Tabin, her second assist of the game.

“I think we’ve just been working a ton the last few weeks to get better and get better looks,” Adzija said. “It’s about time, we’ve had a ton of chances in the past games and it was good to get the first goal.”

With five minutes remaining in the second period, sophomore forward Grace Markey netted her first goal of the year off an odd-man-rush with senior forward Kenzie Lancaster who was credited with the assist.

Bobcats junior goaltender Abbie Ives recorded her first shutout of the season by staging off several high-chance scoring opportunities and four power plays from the Bears. She made a total of 17 saves in the game.

“We had two weeks of practice with no games and we were really dialed in,” Ives said. “It’s a huge confidence boost, we really got the monkey off our back tonight, we scored a power play goal, we got a shutout and obviously, we won.”

The Bobcats take on another ECAC Hockey foe on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena as they battle the Yale Bulldogs.