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It was the home opener for the Quinnipiac women’s lacrosse team on Saturday and the team was able to climb back to .500 on the season, beating Long Island University Brooklyn by a final score of 14-8.

The Bobcats (2-2) were in control for most of the game, leading by seven goals at one point. Four of those goals came from junior attack Megan Szawlowski. She finished the day with two assists to go along with those four goals and two ground balls.

Szawlowski transferred to Quinnipiac after spending the last two seasons with Central Connecticut State University. During her rookie campaign with the Blue Devils, she scored five goals in their season opener against the Bobcats.

“You have to bring that up,” Quinnipiac head coach Tanya Kotowicz said with a laugh. “I’m just so glad she’s a Bobcat. I couldn’t have asked for a better transfer to come through. We’ve had a couple of really strong transfers…I mean they’re Bobcats. Once they’re here, they’re learning what it means to be a Bobcat and that’s all I ask for.”

The Blackbirds (0-3) weren’t really able to establish much consistent pressure on the Bobcats. Sophomore midfielder Elise Person and junior attack Bianca Santucci both tallied two goals, but their multi-goal efforts weren’t enough to rally the team.

The Bobcats had another transfer student who had a strong day in graduate student goaltender Sami Walters. She made her first start of the season and had eight saves, including four in the final ten minutes of the game, to earn her second win of the season.

Ashley Bobinski, who led the Bobcats with 20 assists and 49 points last season, found herself on the scoresheet as well, with a goal. However, despite her four goals and five points on the year making her a point per game player, she is off to a slower start than last season. In the first four games of 2018, she tallied 12 goals and 18 points.

“Not much is in her way, she’s working really hard,” Kotowicz said. “I think we have a more balanced offense and she’s fitting in fine, it’s just now we don’t have to put so much pressure just on Ashley. When she gets her chances, she’s taking them. It’s been really nice to have more of a balance.”

Another Bobcat whose season is off to a hot start is senior attack Allison Kuhn. Kuhn scored two goals and recorded two assists to contribute to her team lead in all scoring categories: 13 goals, five assists and 18 points. With Kuhn and Szawlowski being the only two double-digit point scorers on the team and the top two scorers, it’s clear they’ve got good chemistry.

“We work a lot outside of practice together,” Szawlowski said. “We definitely bond outside of practice and we do extra work together outside and it makes it really easy for us to connect.”

The Bobcats look ahead to a trip to Nassau County as they take on the Hofstra Pride on Long Island on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

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