Sadie Peart, a re-energized Bobcats team and new faces at goaltender led Quinnipiac to its a win over Saint Anselm, its fifth in a row.

Senior defenseman Zoe Boyd made her season debut today, bringing additional leadership to the defensive side of the puck.

From the start, Saint Anselm’s players lined up along the bench chirping and cheering for all their teammates and great plays to match the already energetic Quinnipiac team.

In goal today, sophomore goaltender Catie Boudiette made her first start for the Bobcats and for the Hawks, junior goaltender Allie Kelley made her return to the People’s United Center as she transferred from Quinnipiac over the summer.

“AK was playing a strong game … she stood on her head tonight, we want everybody to do well no matter where they’re playing,” senior forward Lexie Adzija said.

Quinnipiac began aggressively as it outshot Saint Anselm 7-1 within the first three minutes.

Scoring began early for the Bobcats as junior forward Sadie Peart shot the puck from right behind Saint Anselm’s blue zone to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 advantage with freshman forward Ann-Frédérik Naud dishing her an assist.

Saint Anselm swung right back 58 seconds later when sophomore forward Claire Weber chipped in, freshman forward Tyra Turner shot off of Quinnipiac’s right post to even the game up for the Hawks.

With 3:20 left to play in the first period, Peart grabbed her second goal of the game, whizzing a shot right by Kelley between the left and right dot of Quinnipiac’s offensive zone being assisted by Naud and graduate student defenseman Olivia Konigson.

Defense shined in the second period for the Bobcats as sophomore forward Olivia Mobley made timely defensive plays during the Hawks first power play and created many offensive opportunities for the Bobcats.

Saint Anselm sophomore defender Savannah Popick also made a crucial block on a powerful slap shot from freshman forward Maya Labad.

Kelley also stopped Adzija in front of the net during a one-on-one situation where she stuck out her right leg pad in front of the stick of Adzija to keep the score 2-1.

With just over a minute remaining in the second period, the Hawks’ Weber grabbed her second goal of the game as she poked the puck past Boudiette right in front of the net to even the score 2-2.

At the end of the second period, the Bobcats outshot the Hawks 10-6, an improvement for the Hawks defensively from the 19-4 shot margin that the Bobcats put up on Saint Anselm in the first period.

To begin the third period, Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey head coach Cass Turner made a change in goal, putting senior goaltender Logan Angers in net to replace Boudiette.

Quinnipiac looked like a completely different team coming out of the locker room showing speed and resilience immediately.

“We talked about playing a simpler game, we needed to put more pucks on the net, be ready to rebound, and to be confident,” Turner said.

Twenty seconds into the third period Adzija scored from the left goalpost of the Saint Anselm net to give Quinnipiac a 3-2 lead. From a two-on-one situation, junior forward Jessica Schryver assisted her on the goal.

The Bobcats hot start continued four minutes into the third period when junior forward Alexa Hoskin flicked the puck over Kelley’s left leg pad after a saved Peart shot, who was credited with the assist, to extend the Quinnipiac lead to 4-2.

Though, Saint Anselm wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“Saint A’s played a feisty game, they didn’t quit … they kept coming at us,” Turner said.

Junior forward Devin Porazinski scored with just under two minutes remaining in the game with Tyra Turner assisting her, making the score 4-3.

Quinnipiac will hope to continue its undefeated start as it plays Saint Anselm again at the People’s United Center at 3 p.m tomorrow.