HAMDEN, Conn — It’s a new age for Quinnipiac field hockey. After a 4-3 overtime loss at New Hampshire Friday, the Bobcats kicked off their home schedule with a hard-fought 2-1 loss to UMass Sunday afternoon, the first home game in the head coaching career of Nina Klein.
The Quinnipiac community showed out for Klein and her squad, with several hundred people lining the bleachers in support.
“I’m just so grateful,” Klein said. “We had beautiful weather today and then looking up in the stands and seeing it pretty much packed. I did see (the men’s) ice hockey (team) behind us. The support that we have at Quinnipiac and from other teams is tremendous.”
When it came to the game, Quinnipiac dominated possession for most of the first quarter. However, two defensive miscues allowed the Minutewomen to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
The first came off a penalty corner from UMass sophomore forward Mali Herberhold, and the second came two minutes later when UMass graduate student midfielder Jess Beech buried a penalty stroke past Quinnipiac sophomore goalkeeper Cristina Torres.
Despite the early hiccups, the good news for the Bobcats was that they did not allow another goal the rest of the day. They just needed to score some themselves, which proved to be a struggle against the Minutewomen’s defense.
Quinnipiac’s offense only generated one shot the entire first half, and it took nearly 27 minutes to record it. The team’s top scorer, junior forward Emilia Massarelli, was effectively marked out of the game after scoring three goals against New Hampshire. That inefficiency goes against Klein’s coaching style.
“I want to make sure that we’re in a position that we’re scoring a lot of goals early on,” Klein said. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case today.”
After the two quick goals from UMass, the game turned into a defensive back-and-forth for the next three quarters. Both teams turned away each other’s scoring opportunities, converting a combined two penalty corners on 14 attempts.
The second converted corner was crucial, going in Quinnipiac’s favor.
With four minutes left in regulation, Bobcats graduate student defender Olivia Howard broke through, putting home the penalty corner shot set up by junior defender Kate Zamagni and graduate student midfielder Stella Tegtmeier.
“It was a good corner, I mean, the goalie missed the ball,” Howard said. “I just wish we could have put one in earlier in the game.”
The goal sparked a final offensive rush from the Bobcats that ultimately came up fruitless, ending with a long-distance wide-left shot from Zamagni in the dying seconds.
Two one-goal losses to start the season aren’t optimal, but Quinnipiac showed a level of heart that is required to be a competitive team in the Big East.
“There was a good fight,” Klein said. “I think we just have to refine some defensive issues that we have right now. But I’m eager for the next couple of games and to refine a couple of things that we struggled with today. I trust our team, there’s a lot of talent.”
The Bobcats now have a week to reflect and regroup as their next game isn’t until Sept. 8, when they travel back to The Granite State to face Dartmouth hoping to pick up their first win of 2023.
