Bobcats Fall Short of Club History
September 12, 2022
Compared to their 2021 campaign, the Quinnipiac Bobcats field hockey team got off to an incredible start on a stretch of three road wins following their 3-1 home-opener loss to the University of New Hampshire. One more game in the win column would have put Quinnipiac’s 2022 field hockey squad in the record books as their best five-game start in program history, but a 3-2 loss against Long Island University this past Sunday caused them to fall short.
The Bobcat’s forwards and midfielders gave their best efforts, keeping the ball in the zone of attack considerably longer than LIU, but the first goal was earned by LIU’s Jules Kuzmich with authority and vigor. What should have been a boost of pace and ball movement for the Bobcats lulled into a long rest of the first half, which would then be ended by a second LIU goal from Meilin Liotard to end the half.
The second half began with a scoreless third quarter, including three of the Bobcat’s eight penalty corners, none of which were capitalized upon.
“You need to put two in to be able to win a game,” said QU’s head coach Becca Main regarding penalty corners, and the team has shown success this season so far in this sense despite the shortcoming versus LIU.
This was followed by an intense fourth, with two goals in 42 seconds of succession. The first goal coming from senior forward Stella Tegtmeier, followed quickly by an electrifying goal from sophomore forward Lucia Pompeo.
“I feel like the energy changed,” said the Bobcats star forward Emilia Massarelli, “but then they scored, and I feel like the energy went down again, and we gave up.”
Massarelli certainly did not give up, despite two missed shot attempts following LIU’s third goal. After these two shots and another short penalty corner attempt, the game’s final score was 3-2 LIU.
Post-game, Coach Becca Main is still in high spirits after Sunday’s loss stating, “I feel like we are a really good field hockey team.”
To be precise, she mentioned this year’s squad having the potential to be one of the top three teams she’s had the privilege of coaching, up there with QU’s 2001 and 2013 squads who each went to the NCAA tournament.
