Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Matt Halpin
The Quinnipiac Bobcats celebrated senior day and continued their run of good form with a 38-34 victory over the American International College Yellow Jackets on Saturday. However, it was not all smiles from the Bobcats’ staff after the final whistle had blown.
Head coach Becky Carlson struggled to find words of anything other than disappointment after the victory.
“There was a level of complacency that was achieved four or five minutes into the second half and we figured ‘hey, we’re ahead’ and when AIC started putting points on the board, we didn’t answer back which is really uncharacteristic of us”
Quinnipiac got off to an early start, with sophomore winger Emily Roskopf scoring a try in the third minute. The Bobcats continued to display their offensive prowess with three more tries in the first half, heading into the intermission with a 24-8 lead.
Though the Bobcats came out fuming in the opening stages of the second half with two tries in the first 20 minutes, an injury to Quinnipiac junior prop Karee Helgerson seemed to change the momentum of the game.
The Yellow Jackets, who the Bobcats shutout 44-0 earlier in the season, scored four straight tries in the second half and were successful with conversion kicks after three of the four tries, closing in from a 38-8 deficit to make the game a nail biting 38-34.
Quinnipiac was able to hold AIC from taking a last minute lead and walked away with the win in their only home game of the season, which was played at Southington High School.
Senior captain Maggie Myles cites the home crowd as much of the inspiration for her senior day win.
“[Quinnipiac] really came through with the pep band and the facilities and the fan bus. It was awesome to play for them.”
The Bobcats’ narrow win was delivered off the back of a 213-0 victory over Castleton University on October 23.
With the victory, Quinnipiac moves to 7-1 on the season. Its next match is against Big 10’s Penn State Nittany Lions, who are on a three game win streak and have three more matches to play before they face the Bobcats at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. This will be both teams’ final match before their respective conference playoffs.
