By D.F. Pendrys

HAMDEN, CT – The Quinnipiac Bobcats women’s hockey team won their season opener over the Maine Black Bears three to two in a game that never seemed that close throughout. Nina Steigauf scored from the slot less than a minute into the game to set the tone assisted by Alexa Hoskin and Sadie Peart. QU dominated the first period preventing Maine from even getting a shot on net until 17:33 into the frame. The Bobcats on the other hand put up 10 to Maine’s eventual 4. The home squad also doused two of Maine’s power plays without allowing a shot as well.

The second period was different as Maine started the period on the power play and did use it to advantage, setting up effectively and eventually Ali Beltz fed Celine Tedenby on the other side of the net and the goaltender could not get back in time before the Black Bear scored it. An assist also went Ida Kuoppala’s way.

The shot totals evened out a bit in period 2 as QU put up 12 to Maine’s 7 as well as the visitors did appear to have shaken off whatever had plagued them in the first period, though Quinnipiac also was still getting more and better chances in on net. The persistence would pay off as Hoskin would take advantage of chaos in front of the Maine net and whack the biscuit in to regain the lead at 9:26 assisted by Peart. The team would strike yet again late when the a rebound came right to Courtney Vorster in the slot and she shot it home at 19:23. Assists went to Jess Schryver and Lexie Adzija for the prelude.

The third period featured Maine trying to get back into the game and finding some success as the shot totals were the most even of the contest. QU had 10 and the Black Bears had 9. Also at 12:00 minute mark Maddie Giordano broke in on net, she had three QU defenders around her and the other two not far away as well as one teammate in the area. She could have passed but took the shot herself and found twine to put the team within one. Ally Johnson assisted her on the effort.

Maine pull the goalie for the extra attacker but QU held firm and even spent time in the Maine zone trying to the puck into the empty net before the final horn sounded giving the Bobcats the win. Coach Cassandra Turner’s team rises to 1-0 while Richard Reichenbach’s Maine team starts out 0-1 on the season.

Logan Angers made 20 saves for Quinnipiac while Loryn Porter made 32 saves for Maine. Both goaltenders had solid days for their respective teams. Porter certainly was especially busy on the day and kept the game from getting out of hand.

Shotwise for Maine, Tedenby had 5 for Maine, Johnson had 4, Kuoppala had 4, and Amalie Andersen had 2 while several others had 1 apiece. For QU, Taylor House had 5, Olivia Mobley had 4, Lexie Adzija had 3, as did Ann-Frédérik Naud, and Hoskin, Vorster, Peart, Steigauf, Katie Huntington, and Maya Labad had 2 with a bunch of players having 1 apiece.

Taylor Leech had 3 of Maine’s 12 blocked shots, Ida Press had 2, as did Tedenby. For Quinnipiac Kate Reilly blocked 5 shots of QU’s 9 total.