HAMDEN, Conn. – The Saint Anselm College women's ice hockey team suffered a 5-0 loss to No. 8/10 Quinnipiac University on Saturday.
With the loss, the Hawks fall to 1-2 on the season while the nationally-ranked Bobcats improve to 6-0. The Hawks will play in their home opener on Wednesday, Oct. 13 when No. 2 Northeastern comes to Sullivan Arena for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
"Quinnipiac is a solid-veteran team and first-class program. This was some great competition and early on for this young team." Said head coach
Jen Kindret. "We saw some good things to take away from this weekend and we will continue to build at every opportunity we can."
The Hawks had three strong chances to score as senior
Kelly Golini (Tewksbury, Mass.) entered the zone in a two-on-one inside the first two minutes of play. She fired a shot that was turned aside by Bobcats goaltender
Corinne Schroeder. Senior
Erin Meyers (St. Paul, Minn.) had two shorthanded breakaways on the Hawks first period penalty kill, but Schroeder stopped both chances.
Quinnipiac had two fantastic opportunities to score in the first period as
Ann-Frederik Naud fired a one-time shot on a pass that went across the slot. Junior goaltender
Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.) managed to make the stop, sliding to her right. In the final minute of the opening period,
Sadie Peart redirected a pass in the slot that forced Kelley to make a kick save with her left pad to preserve the scoreless opening frame.
The Bobcats held a 15-3 advantage in shots on goal during the first 20 minutes of play.
Peart gave Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead just 3:17 into the second period.
Olivia Konigson sent a shot from the left point toward the Hawks goal that Peart redirected from the middle of the slot. The deflection beat Kelley on her blocker side.
Alexa Hoskin doubled the Bobcats lead in the final minute of the second period as Naud sent a backhand shot on Kelley but the rebound popped out to the slot where Hoskin quickly turned and fired a wrist shot by the Hawks goaltender.
In the second period, the Hawks killed three power play chances by Quinnipiac, including a five-on-three. Saint Anselm registered just one shot on goal in the second stanza, compared to 17 for the Bobcats.
With just over 13 minutes left in the third period, Kelley robbed
Jess Schryver of a sure goal, keeping the deficit to two. Schryver was posted up in the slot and fired a quick snap shot that forced Kelley to flash the leather, making the glove save.
However, Quinnipiac struck three times in less than two minutes in the third period as
Olivia Mobley,
Kendall Cooper, and
Veronica Bac all managed to find the twine as Mobley's goal came on the power play at 8:36 while Bac closed the stretch at 10:33.
The Hawks had two power play chances in the closing minutes but were unable to get any strong scoring chances with the extra player.
Quinnipiac fired 50 shots on goal compared to just seven for Saint Anselm. The Hawks were 0-3 on the power play while the Bobcats were 1-5. From the face-off dots, Quinnipiac won 36 of 49 draws.
Kelley suffers her second loss on the season after making 41 saves. She has made at least 40 saves in all three of the Hawks' contests to start the season. Freshman
Annabella Lalande (Plantagenet, Ontario) made her collegiate debut in relief during the third period, halting four shots in just over nine minutes of work. Schroeder improves to 3-0 on the season after posting a seven-save shutout.
