Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Andrew Badillo
A quick cut to the basket and a shove from Monmouth guard Sarah Olson left Quinnipiac captain Maria Napolitano down. Clutching her knee. Excruciating pain wedged between every wrinkle on her forehead.
Napolitano left the game briefly in the second quarter of Quinnipiac’s semifinal game against Monmouth. Her eyes watered up with tears, she winced in pain, barely able to put any weight on her right leg as she headed to the locker room.
She returned four minutes later. She lasted 30 seconds before she collapsed in nearly the same spot as the first fall.
This time there was no contact, Napolitano had to be helped off the floor and supported by the Quinnipiac coaching staff.
At the time, the score was 23-21 in Monmouth’s favor with 24 minutes remaining in the game. The Hawks were battling Quinnipiac all game. Paula Strautmane and Aryn McClure were in foul trouble. And now, Quinnipiac had to play without its senior captain and vocal leader.
The four minutes before the first half, Quinnipiac head coach, Tricia Fabbri, was hoping Napolitano’s injury was not as severe as it appeared. But, she received the news in the locker room that Napolitano would not return. A vocal leader, Napolitano had a strong message for her team going into the second half, with their season on the line.
“Just to win this game. I told them we were capable of doing it, we were the more talented team. We just needed to dial in more on defense and giving them a lot of confidence. That they didn’t need me to go out and win. And I knew they didn’t and they proved it and I’m just so proud of them.”
Napolitano returned to the bench in the second half on crutches. Her day on the court was over, but her duty in the huddle and in the locker room was far from it.
“Every time there was an opportunity where the coaches were huddling Maria was in the huddle constantly giving to her team and that’s who she’s been for her four years and even more so as a leader this year constantly giving to the team even when she wasn’t out on the floor playing, that helped us immensely throughout the course of the game,” Fabbri said.
Quinnipiac women’s basketball has branded its program on togetherness and team unity. Not one player makes the difference between a loss and a win, as one player goes down the team steps up. Napolitano went down and her team stepped up.
Morgan Manz scored 13 points (two shy of career-high) in the victory including going six-for-six from the free throw line. Brittany Johnson scored four clutch points in one possession that effectively put the game away for Quinnipiac as it went on to win 66-59.
As the final buzzer sounded, Napolitano could not hold back her emotions. Her eyes swelled with tears, her white and blue warmup shirt clenched between her teeth as her team moved onto the MAAC Championship Game for the third consecutive year.
“It was celebratory and sad acknowledging one of your players that’s not going to be on the floor. We have a purpose, we have a mission, we’re here to accomplish it, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Fabbri said.
Napolitano is perhaps the most decorated Quinnipiac women’s basketball player in program history. She has reached four conference championship games (one NEC, three MAAC), has made the NCAA Tournament twice, and has accumulated 106 wins in her career.
Quinnipiac will face off against Iona in the MAAC Championship Game. After its win against Marist, Iona head coach Billi Godsey praised Napolitano and Quinnipiac’s depth.
“Obviously it’s sad to see such a great player go down and not have an opportunity to play in a championship game of her senior year. We wish her well and obviously a speedy recovery. We are going to have to prepare just as if she were going to play. They have great players stepping in that spot,” Godsey said.
Napolitano will be on the bench Monday against Iona. But, in her four years as a Bobcat, 106 wins later, her role has never been more important.
