Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Phil Akre
Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey goalie Sydney Rossman was named the ECAC Goaltender of the Year just a season ago, as she became one of the nations best. So far this season she has recorded six shutouts and started every game.
But, in Quinnipiac’s 3-1 win against the Colgate Raiders on Saturday afternoon, it was freshman Abbie Ives who led the Bobcats onto the ice, as she was named the starting goalie before the game.
“We’re in a really good spot. Abbie was prepared,” head coach Cassandra Turner said. “She has worked hard all year. We’re in a situation where we have to two really good goalies.”
The night before the contest against Colgate, Rossman allowed three goals in 33 minutes against Cornell University, which prompted Turner to bring in Ives for the rest of the game and overtime. The freshman made nine saves and let in zero goals in 32 minutes of play against the Big Red. Today against the Raiders, she tallied 18 total saves.
“The win feels great. I was little nervous coming in,” Ives said. “The team made sure I didn’t see a lot of point-blank shots. (Rossman) told me to just play my game and relax. After the first goal she told me to just forget about it, which I did.”
In addition to Ives’ fantastic day in net, Quinnipiac’s defense as a whole played very well, as they limited a Colgate offense that came in averaging 3.5 goals per game.
“We prepared for it all week,” defenseman Taryn Baumgardt said. “We knew they were going to try and make moves to get a lot of one-on-one’s. We just played together as a team.”
On the offensive side of the puck, Kenzie Lancaster scored just six minutes into the game, which gave Quinnipiac an early 1-0 lead. It was a positive step after it took the Bobcats nearly a period and a half to score against Cornell the day before. Coming into the game, Quinnipiac was 8-0 this season in games they scored first.
“We’ve been a pretty impressive hockey team in the past when we’re up,” Turner said. “We want that killer instinct in the first period. We haven’t had it as much as we’ve wanted, but it was nice to get that today.”
After Colgate collected just four shots on goal in the first period, they cashed in early in the second as they found the back of the net with a Bailey Larson score.
11 minutes into the third period, Lancaster pulled away completely undefended and scored a shorthanded goal, her second of the day. Lancaster’s fifth goal of the season gave the Bobcats the 2-1 lead with 14 minutes left in the third period.
“Practice has been pretty consistent,” Lancaster said. “The first goal came off putting a lot of pressure on the D, so I think that’s something I’ve improved in my game. I just get put in great positions.”
Colgate pulled goalie Julia Vandyk with three minutes left, which led to a Kenzie Prater goal, her second of the weekend.
Was it Quinnipiac’s biggest win of the season? For Lancaster, it was a no brainer.
“Absolutely. We played consistently the whole game. Every period we came out hard, which is something we’ve been trying to focus on. We kept it on them the whole game.”
The Bobcats will return to home ice when they face Merrimack for the first game of the Nutmeg Classic on Friday, Nov. 25.
