Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Sierra Goodwill
Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey advanced to the ECAC semifinals after a double overtime 3-2 win over RPI Saturday afternoon. Nicole Brown scored off of her own rebound around the left blocker of RPI goaltender Lovisa Selander with 6:36 left in the second extra period.
“What a rush,” Brown said. “I don’t even know what happened or how the play even developed, I just remember everyone jumping on me and my legs cramping from playing so much hockey. I don’t think there is a better feeling right now.”
Despite another domination in attempted shots by Quinnipiac, Rensselaer forced game two of the ECAC quarterfinals past regulation. Selander was the x-factor for the Engineers, beating her career-high saves in a single game with 69, which she set on Friday in game one of the series.
“That was a great playoff hockey game,” head coach Cassandra Turner said. “RPI deserves a ton of credit because for two days they battled so hard and made it incredibly difficult for us to get to the net to get second shots. Their goalie was outstanding in both days.”
The first goal of the game came from RPI’s Jaimie Grigsby, just 25 seconds into the first period. She was able to split the two defenders and the back-checking forward near the hash marks in the middle slot to net one past Sydney Rossman.
Nicole Connery was in a similar situation soon after, but her attempt to wrap around the right side of Lovisa Selander was denied by Selander’s blocker.
“We really didn’t feel any frustration when we didn’t score. They were there for each other after every play, which is something we talked about earlier in the year…I thought they were great with it today,” Turner said.
However, Quinnipiac tied the game just over seven minutes in while on the power play. T.T. Cianfarano was able to weave through traffic on the doorstep and send it in through the five-hole. The 28th goal of the season ties her at second all-time for goals in a single-season.
Throughout the rest of regulation, RPI’s defense relied on blocking the consistent shots put up by Quinnipiac. The Engineers were able to do so without committing detrimental frustration penalties, as well.
Quinnipiac began to show fatigue in the first overtime and play was slowed down and evened out. Lovisa Selander made two huge saves in the closing minutes to send the game into it’s second overtime.
“I think we are easily the most well conditioned team in the country… Obviously we were tired but good things happen when you put the puck on the net. I think all around, it was a team effort,” Brown said. “We could’ve played another overtime period but I thought that maybe we shouldn’t. I was getting tired of playing RPI.”
Brown’s game winner gave Cassandra Turner her 28th win of the season. She now holds the NCAA record for most single-season wins as a first-year head coach in women’s ice hockey.
The Bobcats will now host ECAC championship weekend. Their opponent has yet to be determined. The semifinals are set for March 5 at High Point Solutions Arena.
