The No. 4 Quinnipiac Bobcats scored a goal in each period, including an empty-net tally in the third, to shutout the St. Lawrence women’s hockey team 3-0 on Friday night in Hamden, Conn.
The Saints finished with a 25-23 edge in shots, outshooting Quinnipiac for the first time since the Bobcats made the trip to the North Country in November.
“Quinnipiac doesn’t give up a lot of chances and I had thought we had some great ones tonight,” Head Coach Chris Wells said. “If we get the bounces and we’re able to convert on that five-on-three in the second, it’s a completely different game. Sydney Rossman made some great saves while we were two men up and they won the draw late to finish the kill.”
Melissa Samoskevich tallied the eventual game winner at the 5:31 of the opening frame when she took a pass from Emma Woods in the right circle and beat first-year netminder Grace Harrison with a wrister inside the far post.
The Saints had a chance to even the score later in the frame but a Quinnipiac defensemen blocked a shot from the hashmarks on the goal line while Rossman was sprawled out just beyond the crease to keep the Bobcats in front.
Quinnipiac extended the lead to 2-0 midway through the second after sustained possession in the St. Lawrence zone. Nicole Brown beat Harrison when she redirected a cross-ice feed from Nicole Kosta.
St. Lawrence once again had a chance with just over seven minutes left in the second period to cut the deficit to one on a flurry of chances in close on Rossman. Amanda McClure’s initial slapshot from the point was saved and cleared behind the net, where Kailee Heidersbach picked it up and had a look at goal while the Bobcats goaltender was trying to slide back across to make the play, but it was blocked. Sydney Bell had a chance as well, but the Bobcats managed to stuff it under Rossman and the play was eventually whistled dead when the officials lost sight of the puck.
The Bobcats were called for two penalties in the contest one minute and eight seconds apart late in the second, give St. Lawrence 52 seconds of five-on-three time. Hannah Miller tallied a couple of scoring chances early, two more shots went wide, one from captain Amanda Boulier was blocked in front and Rossman made a big save on Jenna Marks to keep the Saints off the board and successfully kill off both penalties.
With four minutes remaining in regulation, Emma Woods added an empty net goal to push Quinnipiac to the eventual 3-0 margin.
The Saints, now 14-12-5 overall and 8-7-4 in the league, will finish its regular season road schedule with a 3 p.m. matchup against the Princeton Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Hobey Baker Rink.
