STORRS — No. 9 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey salvaged what would be a forgettable Nutmeg Classic weekend with a 2-0 win against the Sacred Heart Pioneers in the consolation game Saturday afternoon.
This win snaps the three game skid for the Bobcats, their longest of the season. It also keeps the Bobcats perfect against the Pioneers, marking their 10th win since 2009.
“We wanted to be in the championship game today,” sophomore defender Makayla Watson said. “I’m proud of how our group responded today.”
From the opening puck drop, Quinnipiac repeated the same mistakes on defense as the previous night’s contest against the UConn Huskies. Passes failing to connect in the Bobcat end combined with great Sacred Heart defense, allowed for the Pioneers to create a lot of offense in front of sophomore goaltender Felicia Frank.
Five minutes into the first period, sophomore defender Reese Pascucci would lay into freshman forward Lincoln Brown for a boarding penalty. Less than 10 seconds into the Bobcat power play, the Bobcats would open up the scoring.
Freshman forward Ella Johnson would win the faceoff against senior center Sami Bowlby and dish the puck out to Watson awaiting at the blue line. Watson would find graduate student forward Laurence Frenette and junior forward Kahlen Lamarche right in front of the crease.
Despite the chaos, the puck found the stick of Lamarche, who flicked it past senior goaltender Jillian Petruno and into the back of the net, breaking open the scoring for Quinnipiac.
That would be the sole goal for the period, as the game would slowly but surely evolve into a goaltender showcase between Frank and Petruno. Each netminder would shut out the opposing team for the next 50 minutes of play, with Petruno recording 56 total saves to Frank’s 22.
One of the best Bobcat chances in the second came halfway through the period. Senior center Emerson Jarvis would win a faceoff and sophomore forward Avery Bairos would scoop the loose puck and go end to end, driving with nothing but open ice in front of her.
Bairos would finally get in range and launch her shot slightly to the left of Petruno, who would deflect the puck right in front of her and sophomore forward Julia Zielinska would clear it out, keeping the Bobcat lead at one goal.
Quinnipiac’s offensive dry spell would continue well into the final frame. There was no shortage of shots from the Bobcat blue and gold, but none of them were able to get behind Petruno and into the net.
In the closing minutes of the period, the Bobcats would break the scoreless drought.
Graduate student defender Mia Lopata would find Lamarche just shy of the Pioneer zone and the rest is history. Lamarche would get down right in front of the Pioneer goal and backhand a shot into the back of the net for her 21st of the year.
“She really wanted to be hungry to attack,” head coach Cass Turner said. “She’s clutch in big moments and likes to score that big one.”
That would be all the Bobcats would need as the clock would run down to zero and Quinnipiac’s win would become final.
The Bobcats will return to ECAC play against the Cornell Big Red on Friday, Dec. 5. Puck drop is set from Ithaca, N.Y. for 6 p.m.
