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.