HAMDEN, Conn — Quinnipiac women’s soccer was shutout for the second straight game Sunday afternoon as it fell to Dartmouth 1-0 in its home opener.
“It was better than the Providence game,” head coach Dave Clarke said. “The intensity was there, we talked about fine tuning certain things.”
The Bobcats’ offensive attack was almost invisible throughout the first half, their only shot on goal coming off the foot of graduate student defender Kayla Mingachos. Big Green senior goalkeeper Emily Hardy was able to quickly gather the shot and put the Quinnipiac attack to sleep for the rest of the half.
The Bobcats’ defense was able to hold their own against the pressing Dartmouth attack until senior forward Daisy Granholm got free in the box and was fouled by Mingachos. On the ensuing penalty kick, Granholm drove home a missile, beating Quinnipiac senior goalkeeper Sofia Lospinoso to the left for what became the eventual game-winner.
“We just need to do a better job of keeping the ball where we need the ball to be,” Clarke said. “We let Dartmouth out and gave away a penalty. You can’t do that at this level, or any level to be honest.”
As the first half came to a close, Quinnipiac headed to the locker room hoping to find some spark offensively. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the spark never lit.
“We’ve got to get a little lucky break,” Clarke said. “All those little deflections are running against us. So that’s fine, the overall performance was good.”
Despite the lack of goal-scoring, the second half was filled with energy and gritty play, which Big Green junior midfielder Aleena Seales quickly put on display as she rocked Quinnipiac sophomore midfielder Madison Alves. The hit left the Bobcat sideline screaming for a penalty that never came.
One of the bright spots in Quinnipiac’s second half performance came from sophomore forward Morgan Cupo, who made her presence known on the offensive side. Cupo generated the best two scoring chances of the game for the Bobcats, the first coming in the 75th minute with a header that left Hardy and the Big Green defense scrambling to clear. Just three minutes later, Cupo forced Hardy to make an incredible diving save to maintain the lead.
“Morgan’s stepping in, she was unlucky with a keeper save as well,” Clarke said.
Following Cupo’s near heroics, Hardy and the Dartmouth defense were able to hold strong and complete the clean sheet. Back-to-back scoreless performances leave the Bobcats with work to do if they want to replicate last year’s championship season.
“You’re not resting on your laurels, if you did what you did last year you want to take a step further,” Clarke said. “We’re trying to take that next step.”
Quinnipiac will have a chance to take that next step on Sept. 1 when Drexel comes to Hamden for a 3 p.m. matchup.
