HAMDEN — A back-and-forth affair that included seven lead changes and eight ties ultimately ended with the Quinnipiac women’s lacrosse team losing to UMass Lowell 11-9 Saturday.
“We did a lot of really good things, especially in the first half,” Quinnipiac interim head coach Jordan Christopher said. “Our penalties were a killer today. Offensively we couldn’t convert when we were up … We just gave them too many chances to have a player advantage today.”
The penalties certainly piled up for Quinnipiac today, as the Bobcats took six penalties — including three at once in the third quarter — which allowed the Riverhawks to get a three-man advantage.
Miraculously, the Bobcats came out of the three-man disadvantage unscathed.
“I’m not going to lie to you, we haven’t really practiced being three people down,” Christopher said. “We’ve gotten one and two, but maybe we should start throwing the third in … I don’t know, We handled it really well.”
After playing two goalkeepers in Wednesday’s loss to No. 21 Yale, Christopher went with just one on Saturday, junior goalkeeper Lindsay Mazzucco, who was solid in net and saved five of 16 shots.
“She sees the ball a little bit better the last couple of days so we decided to keep her in there,” Christopher said. “She made some nice saves early, so we were willing to stick with her through that. Some of the goals that we went in on were probably a little bit on all of us and not just her. We were confident in giving her the start today.”
Junior midfielder EllaGrace Delmond and senior attacker Angelina Sparacio were nothing short of spectacular for the hosts, combining for seven of the Bobcats’ nine goals.
“We want to be a little less scoutable and more people are contributing,” Christopher said. “Our shooting needed to be better today. We generated the shots, but weren’t able to put them away. EllaGrace did a great job coming off the bench and providing that spark, but we will need a little bit more production from others.”
Sparacio started just two games last season, but she has been a major key to Quinnipiac’s offense in its first two games. The New York native scored three goals in today’s game, to go along with an assist, bringing her total up to seven goals already.
“She’s a game-changer,” Christopher said of Sparacio. “She has a leadership quality about her. She’s just confident about who she is as a lacrosse player right now, and we’re going to ride on that.”
The Bobcats seemed to be right there with the undefeated Riverhawks late in the fourth, but with the game tied at nine and the clock dwindling down, it was the visitors who rose to the occasion.
Specifically freshman attacker Chloe Bowers, who found the back of the net for the go-ahead goal with three minutes left, and then the final nail in the coffin with a minute remaining.
The two goals capped off a stellar showing for Bowers, who finished the afternoon with five goals.
“She’s dynamic,” Christopher said. “She has a right and a left dodge …She was sneaky with (her goals) and then she came in clutch at the end. It’s impressive … She’s pretty swaggy for a freshman.”
Following the loss, the Bobcats dropped to 0-2, but Quinnipiac hopes that playing talented opponents like nationally ranked Yale and a now 5-0 UMass Lowell squad, will help prepare it for the MAAC.
“It’s going to help us a lot,” Christopher said. “They’re able to expose different things… We’re going to have to be just a little bit tougher and work through some things, but I think playing tougher competition is never a bad thing. It makes us grind a little bit, figure ourselves out and it’ll only make us better for the MAAC.”
Quinnipiac will continue its preparation for conference play on Feb. 28 when it travels to Fairfield to meet in-state rival Sacred Heart. Game time is slated for 3 p.m.
