FAIRFIELD — The MAAC Championship between Fairfield and Quinnipiac was always going to be a one-goal game, it was just a matter of who would score first.
Sunday afternoon, it was the Stags, who stripped the back-to-back conference champions of their crown in a 1-0 victory. For the first time in three seasons, Quinnipiac met its end in the MAAC finals.
“I know we were voted preseason all along, but I think that was just more of a respect for what they did last year,” head coach Dave Clarke said. “I don’t for one minute believe a lot of teams thought we were going to be here. I think they were written off.”
He’s right — Quinnipiac was the preseason favorite. And it did meet about 99% of those expectations by making the finals apart from suffering its first conference losses since 2021 (Mount St. Mary’s Oct. 19 and Fairfield Oct. 30).
Final score aside, there wasn’t much Quinnipiac did poorly. The lone goal came off a free kick called right outside the corners of the PK area on junior midfielder Molly Andrews for tripping.
The initial line-drive boot from junior defender Meghan Carragher wasn’t the problem — it was the rebound. Graduate student goaltender Sofia Lospinoso lunged and deflected the ball for MAAC Championship Most Outstanding Player and junior forward Maddy Theriault to convert.
But as Clarke said, 11 other teams in the conference would have killed to play one more game, win or lose.
“Other teams would be like, ‘Yeah, we’d love a bad year like that,’” he said. “‘We’d love a down year like that. We’d love a disappointing year like that. Our disappointment is second in the league and then runner up in the championship.”
Because of that success, women’s soccer has set a precedent for other Quinnipiac teams to follow in training style and game approach.
“They’re the role models,” Clarke said.
It’s no easy feat to run a championship season back for a second time, three would be asking for a near impossible task. The Bobcats have been impressive nonetheless, reaching the MAAC Championship four out of the last five years with much of that credited to a core few who have been with the program just as long.
“Last night at dinner, all of them sitting at a table together, blowing out candles,” Clarke said. “They become a team, a family as well. We don’t use that word lightly.”
Key players such as graduate students forward Courtney Chochol — Quinnipiac’s leading scorer — and Lospinoso — whose 11 shutouts put her top 10 in the country for clean sheets — are rare to come by.
But so are players like midfielder Klara Bengsston — who had an eye-catching rookie debut in 15 games — alongside an experienced group of rising upperclassmen. No doubt, these veterans will take the mantle in stride.
In short, the Bobcats’ future is as bright as their present.
The next step?
“Keep the process,” Clarke said. “What we’ve done the last three years is go to work right away. Don’t take time off.”
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if Quinnipiac is as dedicated as it has been the last few seasons, it’ll be a top MAAC contender come next fall.
