By David F. Pendrys

CAMBRIDGE, MA- The Quinnipiac Bobcats faced one of the long time rivals in the Harvard Crimson and took a 2-1 win from the hosts to rise to 9-4-1 and 4-2-0 the ECAC. Harvard, whom QU had gone a long time in beating until last year, dropped to 1-4-0 overall and in conference.

Behind defense and goaltending the Crimson held the Bobcats off for 2 periods despite a 23 to 8 shot differential in favor of the visitors. Harvard took the lead in the third suddenly when Val Turgeon broke in from the net’s left and shot it into the corner of the net at 1:47. Quinnipiac was quick to respond at 3:45 as Kati Tabin launched a rocket from deep in the Harvard zone that got through.

The game winner came at the hands of the often lethal T.T. Cianfarano on the power play as Emma Woods and Melissa Samoskevich passed it effectively getting the netminder to commit. As she lay on the ice, Cianfarano carefully controlled the puck and flicked it over her at 5:31.

QU’s Sydney Rossman faced 12 shots and made 11 saves while Harvard’s Brianna Laing faced 35 shots and saved 33. Rossman was rarely challenged throughout the day but Laing had to deal with an absolute onslaught of shots and efforts from the extremely potent QU attack. She was still able to fend off nearly everything that came her way keeping her team in the game despite the offensive struggles.

Samoskevich, Cianfarano and Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout all took 5 shots each for the Bobcats. Kenzie Prater, Woods, and Randi Marcon had 3. Alicia Barry, Kenzie Lancaster, and Raquel Pennoyer all had as well. For Harvard, Sydney Daniels, Val Turgeon, Kat Hughes, and Lexie Laing had 2 shots a piece.

Kate MacKenzie had 3 blocks for the Bobcats. Meghan Turner,Lancaster, Woods, Emma Greco, and Cianfarano blocked 1 each.

Kaitlin Tse, Haley Mullins, and Natasha Rachlin each blocked 2 shots for Harvard. Kyra Colbert, Audrey Warner, Ali Peper, Kate Hallett, Lexie Laing, Hughes, Turgeon, Chelsea Ziadie, and Abbey Frazer all had 1.

Noticed Plays (Abbreviated Edition. It is always a caveat that these are plays that are noticed and not expected to be a complete list. Fewer notes were taken during this game than usual so the proportion of missed plays will be higher than usual. Thus the brevity. I wish I had more but it is what it is.)

Harvard

• Briana Mastel cleared it during the penalty kill and got in the way of a QU centering pass.
• Kat Hughes stole it in the QU zone, later she got it out of the Harvard end.
• Lexie Lang had a clear on the penalty kill.
• Abbey Frazer came up with the puck during the penalty kill and didn’t let it get into the zone even before clearing.
• Haley Mullins and Kate Hallett harassed QU in their own zone during a penalty kill as well. Mullins intercepted a centering pass and she also disrupted another QU setup later.
• Audrey Warner stole the puck in the defensive zone and brought it out.
• Natasha Rachlin disrupted an opponent’s pass and later blocked another Bobcats pass.
• Kaitlin Tse cleared it from the goal mouth.
• Bradley Fusco stole it in the offensive zone giving the team a chance.
• Chelsea Ziadie cleared the puck from in front of the Harvard net and out of danger.

Quinnipiac

• Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout stole it in the offensive zone leading to a chance. She also stole it in the center of the ice and brought it into the opposing end. She had a break later as well.
• Kate MacKenzie disrupted a Harvard break in on net. She would later move it out of her zone, disrupted a break at a different point, and blocked a centering pass at another instance.
• Danielle Marmer got the puck in the offensive zone generating an opportunity.
• Emma Woods acquired the puck outside the offensive zone suddenly and moved it in.
• Meghan Turner intercepted the puck in the Harvard zone leading to possibilities.
• Randi Marcon intercepted a centering pass
• MacKenzie Lancaster stole the puck in the QU end blunting a Harvard attack. She would also pick off a Harvard pass in their end leading to several Quinnipiac shots.
• Melissa Samoskevich had several clears on the penalty kill.
• Taryn Baumgardt cleared it on the penalty kill.
• Kenzie Prater kept the puck from crossing the blue line to keep an offensive attack going.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Full gallery with larger versions on the facebook page.