HAMDEN – At a certain point, someone can only take so many punches, and Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey just took another blow, falling 2-1 in overtime to Clarkson Saturday afternoon. The loss marks its second overtime loss of the weekend, and its sixth loss in its last seven games. 

The defeat raises a serious question. Is this team capable of contending for a national title, or even in the ECAC? 

Head coach Cass Turner still seems to think so. 

“There’s so many positives we can take from this weekend,” she said. “I think our team just keeps getting better and better. We’re going to keep working to get better and be ready to attack these next two ECAC games.” 

Coming off a night where it needed a three-goal rally just to force an extra frame against No. 7 St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac came out of the gates with a little extra juice in its offensive zone. Junior forward Maya Labad and senior forward Nina Steigauf both fired scoring chances in the opening minutes but were stonewalled by senior goaltender Michelle Pasiechnyk. 

The juice didn’t last long though. The Bobcats were only able to muster eight shots on goal and were forced to dump-and-chase for the majority of the period. The Golden Knights didn’t have much to give either, firing 11 shots at graduate goaltender Logan Angers and coming up empty-handed. 

“(Angers) is an outstanding goaltender,” Turner said. “She’s been solid for us and calm in big moments. It was nice to see that again.” 

As the second period began the Bobcats put themselves in penalty trouble. In the opening stages of the frame, a pair of hooking penalties were called on senior defender Maddy Samoskevich and sophomore defender Zoe Uens. Consecutive penalties are bound to hurt you against the No. 6-ranked power play in the nation. 

The Golden Knights made them pay. 

Junior defender Haley Winn corralled a loose puck at the point and fired a missile that got past Angers to put Quinnipiac’s back against the wall yet again. 

“Think about how many games that we’ve been coming back and ready to attack,” Turner said. “For us, we believe.”

The belief showed through as less than three minutes later freshman forward Kahlen Lamarche was left all alone at the left dot, and fired a shot that went five-hole on Pasiechnyk. 

“She’s a clutch goal-scorer, a clutch playmaker, she wants big moments,” Turner said. “She has grown a lot this year, it’s great to see her in that 30-point range as a first year.” 

Then things tightened up. For the final 30 minutes of regulation, the two teams played in a gridlock, but multiple Golden Knights penalties in the third period opened up a window for the Bobcats. Pasiechnyk closed that window multiple times, making incredible saves on her back and stomach, but it helped that Quinnipiac couldn’t seem to be able to lift the puck off the ice. 

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Quinnipiac made a critical mistake. Sophomore forward Madison Chantler committed a holding penalty that gave Clarkson well over a minute on the man-advantage in overtime. 

In a similar fashion to Friday’s loss, the Bobcats didn’t go out without a fight. 

On the penalty kill, graduates, forward Sadie Peart and defender Kate Reilly made a pair of big-time blocks, and Angers made an incredible sprawled out left-pad save to keep the game alive. 

Quinnipiac couldn’t seem to get any real momentum going after killing off the penalty, and Clarkson kept firing, but for the most part, missed the net entirely. 

Things changed when senior defender Nicole Gibson sent a shot towards goal and tipped off Labad’s stick. The puck was sent trickling towards the crease and Angers never saw it, delivering another loss to the sinking Bobcats. 

On a losing streak like this, there aren’t a whole lot of positives you can take away. For Quinnipiac, it’s focusing on perspective. 

“We get to choose our perspective,” Turner said. “I’m confident that under today’s game, there are going to be so many great positives in the things that we need in order to win a championship.” 

The Bobcats will now head to New York for their last regular season games against RPI and Union. Puck drop against RPI is set for 6 p.m. on Feb. 16.