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The drought is over.

Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse senior Foster Cuomo bounced back in a big way for the Bobcats on senior day, scoring six goals in a 10-9 victory over the Monmouth Hawks. His double hat-trick comes in what was his last game on the Quinnipiac lacrosse field.

Cuomo, the MAAC preseason player of the year, was held scoreless his last two outings for the Bobcats. Both of those games ended in losses for Quinnipiac. It was the first time in over a year that Cuomo had failed to tally a goal a game.

“You could see it gave the offense confidence, when he gets going it just draws so much attention. He just opens up everyone else and when the defense is focused on him, everything starts to click,” Quinnipiac head coach Mason Poli said after the win.

Cuomo’s fellow senior attack Mike Fletcher also had a productive day scoring four goals of his own while also dishing out two assists. This was the second straight game that Fletcher would score four times, bringing his season total to 19.

Fletcher and Cuomo, along with sophomore attack Jake Tomsik have each taken turns tormenting opposing defenses with their goal scoring. The three attackmen lead the team in scoring, and on any given day can get hot and pick up when another may be having an off game.

“It’s nice, it takes the pressure off of you, you never have to go in with the mindset that ‘it’s all on me’ because you got two other guys that are going to have your back,” Fletcher said.

“They are so skilled, especially Jake and Fletch, but also guys in our midfield like Matt Frost, (Will) Abbott, there are so many guys that are skilled. I think the great thing about our offense is that if somebody is having a down day other guys pick them up and are able to contribute so it kind of flip flops,” Cuomo said. “That’s what is so dynamic about our offense is that everyone can do something.”

The Bobcats will need all three of these weapons along with the rest of their offense as they head down to Yale on Tuesday for a showdown with the defending national champions. Yale is currently ranked No. 4 in the country, having won each of its last three games by five goals or more.

Quinnipiac, though, is eager to take the field against their cross town rivals.

“We are excited about it. I think it’s been six or seven years since we had them on the schedule, so hopefully it’s a rivalry that we can keep going, but we are definitely looking forward to it,” Poli said.

Quinnipiac is no stranger to facing big name teams having already played Brown earlier in the season and defeating the Ivy League team last season when the Bears were nationally ranked. With the MAAC tournament approaching, any and all quality competition will serve the Bobcats well.

With the win over Monmouth, Quinnipiac moved to 4-2 in the MAAC which places them in a tie with Canisius for the third and fourth playoff spots in the conference. The Bobcats have one remaining conference game which will be on the road against Manhattan next weekend. The Jaspers are currently tied for sixth place in the MAAC.

A win on Saturday will guarantee Quinnipiac a spot in the postseason, where it could be seeded anywhere from second to fourth.

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