The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team was defeated by the Siena Saints 1-0 in its home opener on Friday afternoon.
After a scoreless first half, junior midfielder Lindsay Tegas slipped the ball past the defense and into the net. Bobcat goalkeeper Jillian Kelley was out of position and could not prevent the goal. The game-winning goal in the 51st minute was all Siena would need.
“They were confident,” head coach Dave Clarke said of the Saints, “and they built on it.”
The Bobcats turned it on offensively after conceding the goal. Eight of the Bobcats’ nine shots were taken after Siena scored.
Quinnipiac took 12 shots compared to Siena’s 15, and both teams received yellow cards, one to Kelley and one to Siena’s Tabitha Tice.
Each goalkeeper made a total of five saves throughout the 90 minutes played.
“[Kelley] hasn’t played since 2008,” Clarke said. “This is her first week back playing competitive games. In some areas, the game has come back, dealing with balls at the goal, dealing with the situations, just the pace of the game. It’ll take time, and I’d rather lose that game today one-nil than an NEC game in a couple of weeks, but she’ll come back.”
Below, coach Dave Clarke speaks after the game. Video courtesy of QU Athletics.
As the Bobcats’ record fell to 0-3, Clarke noted the need to make a few changes to their strategy.
“We had to work on a few things defensively,” Clarke said. “We were a little bit better [today]. This week in class we’ve got to go away and look at a few other things and tighten them up. I’m sure next week’s game will bring up other problems we still got to solve, but we’ve got to score goals too, which is another area that we’ve got to address.”
The Bobcats will travel to Worcester, Mass. on Sunday to take on Holy Cross at 2 p.m.
Photo Credit: Jim Casey
