Quinnipiac women’s lacrosse falls to Siena
Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
April 11, 2019
The Quinnipiac women’s lacrosse team couldn’t maintain a first half lead and dropped a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) clash against Siena on Wednesday by a final score of 11-7.
The first half was a defensive battle as the Saints (9-5, 5-1 MAAC) were clinging to a 3-2 lead over the Bobcats (5-9, 2-4 MAAC). But the Bobcats came alive in the final three minutes of the half. Junior attack Megan Swazlowski got it started by scoring her 29th goal of the year to tie the game at three.
After that it became the Maddie Deegan show.
The freshman midfielder scored two goals in that span and added one at the beginning of the second half to complete a natural hat trick. She finished with five goals on the day, her first collegiate hat trick and five goal game.
“(Because of) how she prepares in practice, it doesn’t surprise me she’s playing the way she is on gameday,” Quinnipiac head coach Tanya Kotowicz said. “The grit that she plays with at practice is exactly what we’re getting on gameday if not more and hopefully we get some more people to follow and we’ll be in a good spot.”
Saints’ senior goalie Sammy Horton came into the day second in the MAAC with a 10.02 goals against average and first in the MAAC with a .507 save percentage. She was the only goalie in the MAAC with a save percentage above .500.
She held strong for the Saints in a second half that saw them outscore the Bobcats 8-2. She finished the day with 10 saves and seven goals against.
“I mean Siena is just a really good team,” Kotowicz said. “Their defense forces the right shots for her to save and then she’s a steady goalie so obviously she’s not jumping all over the place to make saves, she’s just seeing the ball.”
Senior attack Allison Kuhn was a bright spot for the Bobcats as she collected her career-high 36th goal of the season from the free position. She is now leading the team with those 36 goals and 53 points.
It has been a frustrating last couple of games for the Bobcats. The team was coming off a loss to Niagara that saw it leading by as many as nine goals before losing 15-14. Then against Siena, they held a 6-3 lead with 28:38 left in the second half before the Saints went on a six goal run and never looked back.
“I think it’s about learning. So you make the mistake once, fine,” Kotowicz said. “You have to make a change after you get that lesson learned. So I think that’s what we’re going to focus on moving forward.”
The Bobcats look ahead to a trip to Riverdale, New York and a date with the Manhattan Jaspers (9-4, 4-1 MAAC). Manhattan is coming off a 14-8 win over Iona on Wednesday.
