Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Anthony Rolleri
The Quinnipiac women’s soccer team picked up its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win of their 2016 campaign by taking down interstate rival Fairfield, 2-1, on Wednesday afternoon at the QU Soccer field. The Bobcats are now 1-2 in conference play and 5-4-1 overall on the season. The Fairfield Stags fall to 0-3 in conference play and 1-10 overall.
This is the Bobcats first win against the Stags in MAAC play dating back to 2013. Quinnipiac is now 1-1-2 against Fairfield. However, the game was more balanced then the scoreboard’s result. Both teams took nine shots and landed three on goal.
Fairfield took a tough blow in the 24th minute, when starting goalkeeper Jenna Pike went down and would not return. The Stags would call on their backup Megan DeFeo to keep the shutout intact. DeFeo was tested early as Quinnipiac got a penalty kick in the 27th minute. Kelly Caruso took the shot for the Bobcats and found the bottom left corner of the net to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
The momentum continued for the Bobcats after the goal, as they tacked on another goal just 13 minutes after the penalty. Freshman forward Ally Grunstein found the back of the net on a spectacular center pass from sophomore Jess Gargan to give Quinnipiac the 2-0 lead. Quinnipiac showed its dominance in the first half, outshooting Fairfield 8-4 and a 4-0 edge in corner kicks.
The Stags were not done yet, down 2-0 to start the second half they knew they needed to bounce back. Freshman back Mel Hingher received a pass from teammate Jenny Jacobs and put it past Bobcats’ goalkeeper Olivia Myszewski to bring the Stags within one.
Despite outshooting the Bobcats 5-1 and drawing 10 fouls in the second half, the Stags fell short. This was a very important game for both teams, coming in 0-2 in conference play and in desperate need of a win, the physicality was evident. The refs had a busy day on the pitch, dishing out 33 fouls.
Quinnipiac’s offense has been the strong point of this team and it continued into today, but perhaps it was the defense that head coach Dave Clarke was most intrigued about.
“Olivia didn’t have a real save to make, she came up for a couple of balls that were dangerous, but nothing where you go alright, that kept us in the game,” Clarke said.
Myszewski saved three shots, but had made very smart veteran plays coming off the line to dive on some dangerous balls.
The Bobcats have been unbeatable at home and look to carry that over to their next game, when they face off against Marist on Saturday, October 1 at 1 p.m.
