As the final horn sounded in Messa Rink in Schenectady, NY, the No. 4 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team skated to the tune of a dominating 5-0 win over Union Friday night. Powered by graduate student goaltender Logan Angers, the Bobcats recorded their seventh shutout of the campaign and third in a row. 

The Dutchwomen, who came into Friday on a program-record five-game unbeaten streak, gave the visitors some fight periodically throughout the game. However, the ECAC Hockey leaders were able to win its sixth game in a row and 15th overall.

Despite a quick Union attack to start the game, the Bobcats were able to kill off a hooking penalty from freshman defender Zoe Uens and turn it into some offensive chances. 

Those offensive chances turned into 19 first period shots and Quinnipiac’s 60th goal of the season. Sophomore winger Maya Labad found the errant puck and shot a wobbler from the slot, slipping it past Union sophomore goaltender Sophie Matsoukas for an early one-goal lead. 

Later in the first, a picture-perfect saucer pass from junior winger Maddy Samoskevich found the stick of junior defender Kendall Cooper. With Matsoukas moving from right to left, Cooper fired it  past the Union netminder for her second goal of the year.

Not to be outdone, Labad took the puck down the left side and raced past the Dutchwomen defense, lighting the lamp for the second time in the period. The Bobcats, who then led by three, kept the pressure on and forced Matsoukas to make some incredible saves. 

Union almost got back on the scoreboard, as senior forward and captain Emily Young was stuffed at the crease by a phenomenal save by Angers. That was the lone highlight for the Dutchwomen during the first twenty minutes of play. 

To start the second period, a costly turnover by Matsoukas gave Quinnipiac junior forward Sophie Urban a wide-open net to push the Bobcats’ lead to four. Quickly following that goal, senior defender Kate Reilly was sent to the penalty box for a tripping call. 

Although the game sped by like a bullet due to the lack of time stoppages, a sequence in the second seemed to take forever, as a scrum out in front of the Union net led to a large amount of pushing and shoving. It was then blown dead after Quinnipiac freshman forward Madison Chantler was shoved in the face right in front of an official. Both sides were issued matching roughing penalties for the incident. 

“We’ve been physical, but I think we can still take it up a notch,” Union junior forward Celeste Beaudoin said after the second period on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We’re getting bodies, but we’re not getting enough … We gotta make sure we’re picking up bodies instead of playing the stick.”

While that scrum wasn’t good for either side, the next one was perfect for the Bobcats. A loose puck trickled right to graduate student forward Shay Maloney, who scored easily and reached the double-digit goal plateau in her first season with Quinnipiac. 

Regulation’s final frame came and went with almost no offensive surges from either side. Icing calls, mixed in with a few offsides, were the highlights of the third period as Quinnipiac kept its lead intact. Both Angers and Matsoukas were solid in net to close the game out, but the explosive first period by Quinnipiac allowed itself to play comfortably all night.

The Bobcats move to 15-1-0 on the season and will now head down to Troy, New York, to face off against RPI tomorrow at 3 p.m. The matinee matchup will be the final ECAC Hockey matchup for Quinnipiac, who’s next conference game will be against Harvard at Fenway Park on Jan. 6.