Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Josh Silverman
The Quinnipiac Bobcats get another shot at exacting revenge against the team that ruined their 2015-2016 season.
Quinnipiac is waiting for the Iona Gaels to step onto Lender Court like a kid waits for his or her presents the night before Christmas.
The next chapter in the Quinnipiac-Iona rivalry takes place Friday night when Billi Godsey’s team takes the court in Hamden.
The heated rivalry began when the Gaels first traveled to Lender Court in 2015. Iona entered the game with two conference losses compared to Quinnipiac’s three. If Quinnipiac won the game, it would be tied with Iona in the conference standings.
The Bobcats won that matchup in the closing seconds after a Maria Napolitano three. Tricia Fabbri and her team then traveled to New York to take on Iona again just a few weeks later. Again the Bobcats took care of business, this time clinching the regular season title.
It was destined the teams would meet again in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference finals. This time around the Gaels would get the last laugh. They delivered a crushing victory and in the process clinched an NCAA tournament birth. The Bobcats somberly walked off the court as the Gaels cut down the nets.
The Bobcats haven’t forgotten about that game, nor have they forgotten how the Gaels embarrassed them just last month.
This time, however, the Gaels come into the Bobcats den.
“It’ll be good to have them on our own floor playing here at the TD Bank Sports Center,” senior guard Adily Martucci said. “Its pretty hard to beat us here.”
Although Quinnipiac has the utmost respect for Iona, there is no love lost coming from the Quinnipiac side of this storied rivalry.
“Iona definitely has a target on its backs. I’m going to be honest I personally don’t like that team because they took the trophy from us last year,“ Martucci added.
Make no mistake, the reigning MAAC regular season champions don’t look at this as just another game. This one is personal.
“I’ve had it circled on my calendar since last year. Losing and that feeling this year when we lost to them at their place that was a hard loss,” sophomore forward Aryn McClure said. “This time coming up I have it circled ready to go.”
McClure isn’t the only Bobcat who has this game circled.
“This is definitely the big game. This determines if we can beat them in the tournament if we do face them. This is huge,” Martucci said. “This is one that has been circled since day one before the season had even started.”
Iona has had Quinnipiac’s number in recent games. In Quinnipiac’s last 34 conference games, they have lost to Iona the same amount of times, two, as every other conference opponent combined.
Among Quinnipiac’s struggles is trying to figure out how to slow down MAAC preseason player of the year Marina Lizarazu. Iona’s star played the full 40 minutes and tallied 24 points in the teams first meeting earlier this year.
Quinnipiac’s head coach Tricia Fabbri and her staff have spent the entire week figuring out how to slow down the star.
“You have Lizarazu who has been an incredible player, a senior point guard, she is incredible with the ball and scoring,” Fabbri said. “It’s a different scoring point guard in the conference that we’re wrapping our heads around 24 hours a day in this office.”
Fabbri’s praise didn’t stop there.
“You have to have multiple game plans for her and that’s what we’re doing here,” Fabbri said. “Mountain (McGilvray) came in and looked at our game film with a fine tooth comb and is really picking apart where she hurt us and how she hurt us. We need a plan B and plan C moving forward.”
The praise from Lizarazu doesn’t just come from the top, Martucci added her own.
“I’m so excited I love playing against great players like Lizarazu. It helps me as a defender to get better and prepare myself for the tournament,” Martucci said. “She is one of the hardest players I’ve ever had to guard. I will give it to her she is a great player and that just prepares me as a defender.”
The Bobcats need a win Friday with Rider keeping ahead in the conference standings. Both teams currently have 13 victories with only four games remaining. A race that will surely be a tight finish, Quinnipiac will need its revenge Friday night to keep pace.
