Woodfine and Cesarini score to top Vermont

Woodfine and Cesarini score to top Vermont

By: Taylor Massey, QBSN Staff Writer

With the sun beating down on it, the women’s soccer team battled through the heat to take down American East affiliate the Vermont Catamounts 2-1. Kemesha Woodfine (Stamford, Conn) and Christina Cesarini (Garden City, N.Y.) each contributed a goal for the Bobcats.

Cesarini put the Bobcats on the board 11 minutes into the game. After a struggle for possession in front of the Catamounts net Shauna Edwards (Southington, Conn.) was able to direct the ball to Cesarini who headed the ball past Vermont goalkeeper Morgan Nichols.

Over the next 50 minutes was a grueling struggle for power. Both teams used an aggressive defense, which sent the ball constantly back and forth across the field.

In this time, multiple Bobcats stood out with their efforts in fighting for possession, but the star of today’s defense was junior Beck Kiting (Canberra Australia). Kiting was on top of the ball no matter where it was on the field. Taylor Healey (Milford, Conn.) also played a key role for the Bobcats defense today. In the second half, she became a prominent force on the field chasing after the ball.

“I think we did really well over all,” said Kiting of the Bobcat defense. “We just got to keep going forward and keep building and keep working on it.”

Goalkeeper Jill Kelley (Simsbury, Conn.) also put on an impressive performance with two saves for the game. It seemed likely that she would record her second shutout of the season, but with less than two minutes left Elle Mills of Vermont was able to breakthrough for a goal.

This game had a surprising amount of action from both team’s goalkeepers as they frequently came away from the net to go after the ball.

Woodfine achieved the Bobcats’ game-winning goal just about 20 minutes into the second half. Kelley punted far into the Catamounts’ zone. Amanda Barroca picked it up and then (Bellmore, N.Y.) dodged a Vermont defender to send the ball into the post. Woodfine beat Nichols to the ball and was able to tap it in and extend the lead.

“In the past couple years we’ve tried to play, you know, where aesthetically it looks good and we haven’t won games,” said head coach Dave Clark “Now it’s less about how we play and more about just get the job done.”

The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team moves to 2-0 in non-conference play after defeating Big East competitor Providence last Sunday. It takes to the road for their first away game of the season this Sunday, Sep. 2. They will be traveling to Linda J. Smith stadium to play Holy Cross at 12 p.m.

Bobcats shut out by #17 Boston College

Bobcats shut out by #17 Boston College

By Thomas Albanese, QBSN Staff Writer

Coming off a 3-1 victory over Towson University, Quinnipiac University’s field hockey program faced their first tough test of the young season against the #17 nationally ranked Boston College Eagles at Quinnipiac’s home turf field. The Bobcats would suffer their first loss of the season to the Eagles by a final score of 2-0.

The Bobcats entered this game with a 2-0 record, their best start in the team’s Division I history. Boston College also came into the game with a 2-0 record after defeating Michigan State 1-0 and Maine 4-1.   

After only 30-seconds passed in the game, Boston College’s Nicole Schuster scored an unassisted goal after taking a long shot outside of Quinnipiac’s box that would pass all Bobcat defenders and Nicole Lewis (East Amherst, N.Y.) to give the Eagles an early 1-0 advantage.

As the first half winded down to just 42-seconds remaining, the Eagles would take a 2-0 lead after sophomore Sarah Hospodar scored an unassisted goal off a rebound.  The Eagles would control most of the possession in the first half against the Bobcats. They finished the half with eight shots on goal. As for the Bobcats, they only managed three shots on goal with no success entering halftime.

It was all defense in the second half for both teams as no goals were scored. However, Quinnipiac missed out on quite a few opportunities, including failing to score on six consecutive corner shot opportunities in a span of four minutes.     

Quinnipiac finished the game with 15 shots, but was unable to connect against the strong Eagle defense. Jess Rusin (Garwood, N.J.), Kristin Engelke (Medford, N.J.), and Jennalise Taylor (Yardley, Pa.) each had two shots on goal. Christa Romano (Madison, N.J.) took four big shots on goal, but none of them were able to pull through for the Bobcats.

Boston College’s goalie, Leah Settipane (East Greenwich, R.I.) moves to 3-0 on the season after achieving her second shutout in three games while saving ten shots against the Bobcats. Lewis (2-1) earned seven saves for the Bobcats but it was not enough to defeat the Eagles.

Head coach Becca Main was still happy about the Bobcats effort, despite putting up no goals on the board.

“When you play a ranked team you tend to back down, but I did not see that today.”

Main also enjoyed the good mindset and game plan that her team contained heading into this tough contest.

“This was the first time in my 18 years at Quinnipiac that I saw a team step in with a game plan and play as hard as they could. When they got down early, they were not upset and they really stepped it up, so that part I was really pleased about.”

The Bobcats will quickly be back in action on Sunday, Sep. 2 as they travel down the Merritt Parkway to New Haven, Conn. to take on their tough rival in Yale University at 1:00 p.m. 

Athlete of the Week: Jennalise Taylor

Athlete of the Week: Jennalise Taylor

By Zack Daly, QBSN Staff Writer

Coming into the 2012 campaign, Jennalise Taylor (Yardley, Pa.) had never scored a point for the Bobcats. It didn’t take long for Taylor to remedy that this season, as she lead the Bobcats (2-0, 0-0 NEC) to their first 2-0 start in Division I history, scoring two goals and assisting on two others.

On Aug. 24, Taylor scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. With less than a minute to go in the first half, the junior captain collected a rebound off of a corner shot and scored on a low shot that went under the reach of the keeper.

Two days later in the Bobcats’ home opener, Taylor scored another goal and added two assists to extend her team leading point total to six. Two minutes into the game, Taylor capitalized on the first corner of the afternoon, putting a rocket past the Towson goalie. Taylor would assist on goals by Meghan McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) and Kristen Engelke (Dallas, Pa.). Taylor was named the player of the game in the 3-1 victory over Towson.

So far, the Bobcat field hockey team has scored four goals in the young season, and Taylor has contributed to them all. The NEC recognized Taylor as well, naming her co-player of the week.

The Bobcats return to action Friday, August 31 against Boston College at the turf complex in Hamden, Conn. 

Women’s soccer defeats Providence in season opener

Women’s soccer defeats Providence in season opener

By: Taylor Massey, QBSN Staff Writer

The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team came out on top in its season opening game against Big East competitor the Providence Friars. Junior Aine McKeever (Derry City, Ireland) scored the only goal of the game to give the Bobcats a 1-0 victory.

The first and only goal came just four minutes into play. Mckeever sent the ball into the bottom left corner of the net off a penalty kick that would eventually seal the win.

           

“I think the importance of the first goal is immense and nothing more so than with my own team,” said head coach Dave Clarke.

Netting the first goal of the game left the Bobcats to only worry about defending their lead. Providence fought back, but was unable to break the Bobcats strong defense and get the ball past goalkeeper Jill Kelley (Simsbury, Conn.).

Kelley fended off several Providence attacks for her first shutout of the season and 10^th of her career. In all today, Kelley made five saves between the posts. The rest of the Bobcats defense kept constant pressure on Providence throughout the game never showing any sign of fatigue. Their solid overall performance contributed greatly to their win today.

The Bobcats offense competed at an equally high level of intensity and barely missed a few opportunities to extend their lead. Christina Cesarini (Garden City, N.Y.) found a chance on a breakaway, but shot just wide of the net. Providence goalkeeper Jessica Goudreault made three saves to hold the Bobcats to their 1-0 lead.

The 25 women roster features nine returning seniors as well as five incoming freshman. Senior midfielder Shauna Edwards (Southington, Conn.) was a team leader in points last season after appearing in all 16 games for the Bobcats. She returns to the field this year with an experienced group of midfielders that could take the team far. It may be too early to tell what the new freshman will bring to the field, but they are fortunate to have a diverse and skilled team to build off of.

At the end of the day the win was a group effort, and no one knows that better than Mckeever who said, “It’s not all about my goal. I think the entire team should be over here chatting.”

Quinnipiac returns to action at their home field this Friday, Aug. 31. They take on Vermont in a non-conference game at 3 p.m. 

Taylor leads Bobcats to home-opener win

Taylor leads Bobcats to home-opener win

By Mark Spillane, QBSN Staff Writer

On a sunny Sunday afternoon at Quinnipiac’s beautiful Mount Carmel campus, the Bobcats field hockey team moved to 2-0 on the year with a 3-1 victory over the Towson Tigers.

           

Junior captain Jennalise Taylor (Yardley, Pa.) powered the Bobcats to their home opener win with a goal and two assists. She got the scoring started with her second goal in as many games just two minutes into the first half. She then assisted on the Bobcats’ second goal, setting up freshman Meghan McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) with a nice pass across the circle.

           

Towson cut into the Bobcats lead in the second half when senior Janine Kovach made a beautiful deflection to get the ball past Quinnipiac goalie, Nicole Lewis (Sr. East Amherst, NY.)

           

However, Taylor helped the Bobcats respond, setting up senior Kristin Engelke (Medford, N.J.) for a goal just three minutes later to put the game out of the Tigers’ reach.

           

Bobcats’ head coach, Becca Main, was impressed with her team.

“We did all the three things we wanted to work on today, obviously finishing strong inside the circle, drawing a lot of corners [shots], and doing a good job finding our key players.”

           

Taylor is one of those key players, and she certainly led the way today. Another is Lewis. She made six saves on the day to earn the victory, including a diving stop with 10 minutes remaining in the second half to keep the Bobcats in front.

Main also noted that her team’s depth is another one of its strengths.

“For us to be able to have depth, to have four or five sideline players that we’re feeling comfortable with, you can rest your top players and give them a break,” she said.

           

Using that depth to keep those top players fresh results in victories, just as it did Sunday.

           

The Bobcats will look to add another tally to the win column this Friday, Aug. 31 when they host the Eagles of Boston College.