by David F. Pendrys

HAMDEN, CT-When the Quinnipiac Bobcats faced Penn State Friday evening the first 19 minutes of the game were dominated by Quinnipiac as the Bobcats out shot Penn State 18-0. About halfway through the period Meghan Turner put the puck in the net during a chaotic scrum in front of the PSU net. Originally a goal was waved off but seconds later Turner put it in past Daniela Paniccia. Penn State however put 3 shots on net in the final minute of the period, including X taking advantage of tumult in front of the QU net. She put it past Sydney Rossman causing the goal light to go off but the refs waved it off. The highlights…

After a video review the call was overturned and the game was tied. In the second Penn State held the advantage for a time, drawing their shot total up to 12. Eventually QU showed more signs of life and started producing shots of their own. At the end of 2, the differential ended up with QU at 28-12. QU largely spent the third period on the attack, though PSU had some rare chances. With just over a minute left. T.T. Cianfarano picked up the game winner. Melissa Samoskevich had shot it from deeper on the zone and Cianfarano tipped it past the keeper. (Editor’s Note: There is some disagreement between official sources on the goal.) Quinnipiac took 49 shots on goal and Paniccia stopped 47 of them. Rossman faced 19 PSU shots and saved 18 of them.

QU Head Coach Cassandra Turner spoke after the game of the depth of the defensive corps which performed well and singled out Shannon Cherpak and Allison Roethke for stepping up in the game. Turner also noted that she saw many positives in the game and the offense, though felt the team could have shown more composure.

Noticed plays. (Plays that might not make the score sheet but are noticed. Not meant to be an exhaustive list.) PSU

• Kelly Seward kept the puck in the QU zone prolonging an opportunity. She also disrupted a QU shot, and had at least two blocks. She also cleared it from the goal mouth during a penalty kill and several times generated opportunities from the neutral zone.
• Brooke Madsen cleared it twice on the penalty kill.
• Sarah Nielsen cleared it from the goal mouth on a penalty kill, and also intercepted the puck in the neutral zone blunting a QU effort.
• Aly Hardy cleared it from the goal mouth.
• Kate Rydland intercepted a QU pass in their defensive zone and fed it to a teammate who had a great shot opportunity.
• Bella Sutton disrupted a QU zone entry and had at least one block.

Quinnipiac

• Shannon Cherpak intercepted a PSU pass.
• Taryn Baumgardt intercepted the biscuit in front of her goal, ending the opposing setup and later cleared it during a penalty kill.
• Kenzie Lancaster stole the puck in the QU zone and brought it all the way down for a shot.
• Emma Woods had multiple steals in the PSU end for opportunities.
• Allison Roethke kept the puck within the PSU blue line to keep the offensive attacking going.
• Kenzie Prater intercepted a Penn State puck and cleared it from the zone on a penalty kill. She also cleared it during a penalty kill and later intercepted the opposing pass and fed it to Cianfarano who brought it out.
• Melissa Samoskevich forced PSU out of the zone with her skating.
• Randi Marcon had a block on the penalty kill.
• Kate Mackenzie cleared it on a penalty kill and at another point intercepted the disc and knocked it out of the goal mouth.
• Raquel Pennoyer stole it in the PSU zone to start a potential chance.
• Alicia Barry cleared it during a penalty kill.
• Emma Greco and Melissa Samoskevich disrupted a Penn State zone entry.

Editor’s note. Technical difficulties made the post game presser videos/audio unusable.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Larger versions are at the facebook page.