Quinnipiac clinches NEC Tournament berth in win over Sacred Heart
By Marty Joseph, QBSN Staff Writer
The Quinnipiac field hockey team defeated Sacred Heart in its final regular season game on Friday, 5-2. The win secured a playoff spot for the Bobcats (11-7) as the team clinches the third overall seed in the tournament. Freshman Danielle Allan (Riverdale, N.J.) led the way for the Bobcats scoring three goals. Seniors Kim Cunniff (Walpole, Mass) and Megan McCreedy (White River, South Africa) also scored for the Bobcats.
Aware that a playoff spot was on the line, the Bobcats came out with a determined effort. Allan put the Bobcats on the board just over the third minute of the game, and the team never looked back.
Cunniff scored her 14th goal of the season at 12:02 in the first half off a pass from freshmen Amanda Danziger (Smithtown, N.Y.). The play came after a corner opportunity when it looked like Sacred Heart cleared the ball from the box. Quinnipiac quickly countered the attack, and Cunniff slipped a shot past goalkeeper Kim Stow into the cage to make it 2-0.
Sacred Heart was able to cut the lead in half with a goal from Sarah Bergman. The goal came as a result of a corner opportunity when Bergman beat senior Nicole Lewis (East Amherst, N.Y.) on a rebound of the initial shot.
Quinnipiac came out flying in the second half and were able to extend the lead with goals from McCreedy and Allan who put the Bobcats up 4-1 scoring just two minutes and 38 seconds apart. Senior Lauren Zimniski (Dallas, Pa) assisted on Allan’s second goal of the game.
Sacred Heart hung around in the second half, never giving up on the game. Lindsay Kasten scored at 46:35 to close the gap to 4-2. The goal was a result of a perfectly executed two-on-one play, as Leah Salindong broke into the box and slid a pass to Kasten who had a wide-open net for the goal.
Allan’s hat trick goal capped off a hard fought win for Quinnipiac, as after the goal was scored the feeling of victory was in the air. McCreedy had the lone assist on Allan’s goal as the Bobcats led 5-2, where the score would remain.
Allan was named the Griff’s Chicken Shack Player of the Game, and after the game, commented on the win.
“We wanted to win this for our seniors. This was their last game ever on this field and we won it for them.” When asked about upcoming NEC tournament, Allan said, “We want to take it game by game. We have to focus on Monmouth first, and then take it from there.”
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