Quinnipiac Women’s Ice Hockey Falls in OT to Colgate

Photo: Quinnipiac Athletics

Ben Kane
January 29, 2022

Highlights by Connor Coar

The Rebound by Gage Kilborne and Ben Yeargin

Story by Ben Kane

Jan. 28 may not be the last time Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey takes the ice against Colgate.

With both teams tipped for the ECAC Hockey playoffs and vying for a first round bye, Friday’s game definitely had a playoff feel to it as Colgate defeated Quinnipiac 4-3 in overtime.

The game got off to a hot start with the Bobcats going down early thanks to a goal from sophomore forward Dara Greig with around three minutes gone in the first period.

From 1-0 Colgate to 2-1 Quinnipiac in the span of five minutes — the Bobcats were resilient in their attack after conceding, and got two quick goals back courtesy of Nina Steigauf and Kendall Cooper.

Play quickly fizzled out on the ice for the Bobcats, and they had to call on goaltender Corinne Schroeder multiple times to bail them out.

Schroeder had a phenomenal game making 30 saves and kept the Bobcats hopes alive well into the second period.

“She [Schroeder] battled,” head coach Cass Turner said. “They outshot us by a lot in the second period, and for us to come out of that tied is incredibly important. We certainly have her to thank for that.”

Apart from Schroeder, this was a different Bobcats team than we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Compared to their last game against Dartmouth where the Bobcats outshot their opponents 46-19, Quinnipiac registered 21 less shots against Colgate.

Not only this, but their possession time was down. The Bobcats were unable to keep the puck out of their defensive half for most of the game, and this showed from the goals they conceded.

The first goal conceded by the Bobcats was a very poor defensive display, and although Schroeder was able to make a few decisive saves during this chain of action, all her efforts were unraveled as Greig was wide open at the far post to tuck one home.

This was pretty much the story for the rest of the game.

After the first period, where the Bobcats outshot the Raiders by one, they trailed 21-11 over the next three periods.

Even with a quick flurry of goals from both teams midway through the third period, the Bobcats were unable to put the game away.

The Bobcats have been in a bit of a slump these last past weeks and have lost 4 games since the start of the year, three more than they have all season.

“The process we are going through right now, I think our younger players are maturing, and I think we are finding ways to make plays together with this team who are truly playing for each other,” Turner said.

This optimism from Turner carries over into her preparation for the playoffs and eventually the NCAA Tournament. Through every adversity, she feels her team becomes more and more prepared, and ready to take on any opponent.

“Whoever goes into the NCAA Tournament from our league is gonna be battle tested,” Turner said. “They will know what it’s like to have adversity, and to come back from that. In the end, we didn’t win but we did so many things throughout the game where it looked like we didn’t quit, and we didn’t, which I thought was great.”