By Corey Hersch

Senior winger Mike Atkinson scored three goals, two of them shorthanded, in a 4-2 win against conference foe Clarkson.  The game marked the Bobcats’ first of the season in ECAC play.  The win improves Quinnipiac’s record to 5-1-0 overall.

The first period of play was dominated by Clarkson, who outshot Quinnipiac 14-10 in the period.  Dan Clarke was solid in net, though, stopping all of the shots he faced in the frame.   Then, with under a minute to play, the Bobcats caught lightning in a bottle.  Scott Zurevinski took the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the zone with Eric Lampe on a two-on-two.  Zurevinski left a drop pass for Lampe in the slot, who fired it over the left shoulder of Clarkson goalie Richie LeVeau for the first goal of the contest.  It was Lampe’s fifth goal of the season.

The second period began much like the first, with the Golden Eagles dominating the play.  They got on the board four minutes into the second stanza, with Scott Freeman scoring his third goal of the year.  Freeman collected a rebound off of a shot from Brandon DeFazio, and was right on the doorstep to stuff it home.

Mike Atkinson

Less than three minutes later, after Jean-Marc Beaudoin was called for a cross-checking penalty, Clarkson took the lead on a power-play goal from Adam Pawlick.  Pawlick took a slapshot from the right circle, and got it past Clarke, who was screened on the play.

Quinnipiac took another penalty which led to a goal later in the period.  This time, though, it was the Bobcats who cashed in.  Yuri Bouharevich found Atkinson at the blue line, who entered the zone in a one-on-one.  Atkinson took it to the near circle, and wristed one through a screen and past LaVeau to make it 2-2.

A Brandon Wong penalty mid-way through the third period led to yet another shorthanded situation for the Bobcats.  Once again, it was Atkinson who shifted the momentum back to Quinnipiac.  This time, Atkinson took the puck along the far side boards and got tripped up, drawing a delayed penalty call.  Atkinson recovered though, skated past the rest of the Golden Eagles defense, and made a move to slip a shot past LaVeau to give the Bobcats a lead.

With 14 seconds left and the Clarkson net empty, Atkinson intercepted a pass and took it the length of the ice to complete his hat trick.  He now has four goals on the season, and his hat trick was the first of his collegiate career.

Dan Clarke was solid in net on the evening, stopping 34 of the 36 shots he faced.  The Bobcats return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m., when they will take on the St. Lawrence Saints.  That game can be heard on the hockey stream, with the broadcast starting at 3:50.

The Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ will be broadasting tonight’s men’s hockey against Clarkson at 7:00 p.m.  The broadacst can be heard on the hockey stream, with Alex Birsh and Jeremy Schilling calling all the action.

WQAQ will take its broadcast on the road for the first time this season, when we bring to you the semifinals of the Women’s Soccer NEC Tournament from the campus of Central Connecticut State University.  You can hear tomorrow’s game between Quinnipiac and Monmouth on the WQAQ Soccer Stream.  Mike Radomski and Robin Schuppert will call all the action for you, with the opening kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday.  Then, at 6:00 p.m., head back to the soccer stream for the last Men’s Soccer regular season contest of the year.  That game will also be broadcast live from CCSU.

By Tom Butto

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week honor goes to Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes (Stoufville, Ontario).

Quinnipiac women's ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes

Hughes had a career game on Saturday night with her first collegiate hat trick on her way to four points against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  She scored Quinnipiac’s second, third, and fifth goals of the game as well as assisting on the fourth as the Bobcats defeated RPI 6-1.  With her performance, Hughes now leads the team in goals and points.

The Bobcats women’s hockey team had a banner weekend in its own right by defeating Union 3-0 in addition to Saturday’s victory.  They will now head on a four game road trip beginning this weekend with Harvard and Dartmouth.

Sunday is a busy day on the Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ.  First, at noon, tune in to the field hockey stream to hear Andrew Gau and Ross Montolio call Quinnipiac vs. St. Francis (PA).  Then, at 1 p.m., Corey Hersch and John Muzzy will have Women’s Soccer against St. Francis (PA) on the soccer stream.  Finally, at 2 p.m., the Bobcats Volleyball team will take on Farleigh Dickinson.  Mike Radomski and Glenn Taylor will have that game on the volleyball stream.

by Brian Farrell

Tonight the Bobcats began their 2009-2010 ECAC conference schedule with a 3-0 shutout over rival Union. Freshman Victoria Vigilanti recorded the win for the Bobcats tonight with just five saves, while Union’s freshman Alana Marcinko had 26 saves in the loss. Last season the Quinnipiac finished in second to last place in the division while Union finished in last place. This was a big game for the Bobcats, as they are still looking to prove themselves after a tough weekend sweep last weekend at the hands of Niagara.

Quinnipiac was first on the board this evening. Junior Kelley Davies took the feed from  defenders Jordan Elkins and Bethany Dymarczyk to give the Bobcats a lead that they would never give up. Kelley Davies moved in on Union’s Alana Marcinko practically untouched as she sent the puck low blocker side to give the Bobcats the 1-0 lead. This season, Quinnipiac has had little trouble scoring goals in the first period as they have nine goals on the season in the first period, but the Bobcats have scored just nine goals in the second and third period combined. On a similar note, Quinnipiac has done a nice job giving up just one goal in that first period, but once again with disappointing second and third periods as Quinnipiac has given up ten goals in those two periods.

After a dominating first period, in which Union was outshot 13-2 and in which the Bobcats seemed to completely control the puck, Quinnipiac continued their dominance of the Dutchwomen. Just 8:23 into that second period, senior captain Kallie Flor pocketed her first goal of the season as she took a pass from her senior line mate Janine Duffy who recorded her first assist. On a three-on-two, Quinnipiac had Kate Wheeler, Janine Duffy, and Kallie Flor streaking in on Marcinko. On the initial shot, Flor stayed back in the slot and waited for Duffy to take the rebound who fed it to Flor for her first goal of the season and for the 2-0 lead.

But Flor was not done on the night. This time the Bobcats were shorthanded as she took another pass from Duffy to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead at the 14:38 mark of the second period. During the entire penalty kill Quinnipiac was putting constant pressure on Union and eventually it proved to be too much, as Flor stuffed home her second goal on the evening. Off the faceoff, Duffy gained possession and sent her second assist to Flor who tried to wrist one home on Marcinko. Flor’s first attempt was blocked by Marcinko, but Flor took the rebound and sent it over the left pad of the Union goaltender. After the game Kallie Flor spoke to what it feels like to get those two goals out of the way. “Hopefully the goals will start to come a little bit more often now, especially if our line keeps flying like it was tonight,” Flor said.

At the end of the second period Coach Rick Seeley opted to change goaltenders and replaced Victoria Vigilanti, who recorded five saves in her two periods, with Amanda Nagel, who recorded four saves in her one period of play. QU’s goaltenders didn’t have too much action tonight as the defense continues to improve.  After the game Coach Seeley talked a little about this improvement. “I thought our defense did a much better job stepping up in the third period and not allowing them to attack our zone with speed,” Seeley said.

After beating Union last night, the Bobcats Women’s Hockey team will take on the RPI Engineers at 4:00 p.m.  You can hear that game on the WQAQ Hockey stream, with Corey Hersch and Jeremy Schilling on the call.

By Tom Butto

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week honor goes to Quinnipiac University women’s tennis freshman Rachel Cantor (Short Hills, N.J.)

Cantor has continued her impressive freshman campaign by earning Northeast Conference Women’s Tennis

Freshman Women's Tennis Player Rachel Cantor

Rookie of the Week for the fourth time in seven weeks. This week marks the second straight week she has won the award.

In her last tournament, the ITA Northeast Regional Championships, she advanced to the Round of 64 before falling to

Brown University’s Bianca Aboubakare, the fourth seeded player in the tournament.

For the fall, Cantor finished with a 12-5 record, including a 7-2 singles mark.

We bring to you two games to  be broadcast on the Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ today.  First, at 3:00 p.m., catch Men’s Soccer against Long Island University.  That game can be heard on the soccer stream, with Corey Hersch and Kyle Brennan on the call.  Later tonight, at 7:00 p.m., Women’s Hockey will be taking on the Niagra Purple Eagles.  Jamie Palatini and Brian Farrell will bring you all the action on the hockey stream.

By Robin Schuppert

HAMDEN –  Unceasing rain flooded the Bobcats soccer field on Sunday afternoon, and by the end, it was the closest thing to having a pool at Quinnipiac.

Freshman Jillian Strassner scored once and had two assists to help lead the Quinnipiac women’s soccer team past Wagner College 4-2.  The win moves the Bobcats to third place in the Northeast Conference, where the top four teams make it to the NEC tournament.

“This has been a tremendous week for us,” said Bobcats head coach Dave Clarke. “We were 1-9-2 in the last three years [in this conference week] and now we picked up three wins and a draw out of this week, so we picked up 10 points out of 12 where we previously picked up five out of 36. So we put ourselves in the driving seat to be where we want to be for the next month.”

Jillian Strassner scored her fourth goal of the season in the 19^th minute off a corner from Sophomore Fortuna Velaj. Strassner was in a pack of players just outside the 6-yard box and jumped the highest to head the ball into the top right corner of the goal. Velaj was credited with her sixth assist on the season.

Eight minutes before halftime the Bobcats doubled their lead. Strassner collected her first assist of the season when she stole the ball from a Wagner defender and dropped it off to a wide open Shauna Edwards. The freshman Edwards, just inside the 18-yard box, shot a low ball that went off the goalie Jen Emigholz’s hands and rolled into the lower left corner of the goal. Edwards picked up her second goal of the season.

The Bobcats kept their foot on the pedal in the second half and scored a goal just five minutes into the half. This time Strassner charged down the left side of the field and crossed a ball into the middle of the box. Senior Amber Sidoti just had to tap the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season. It was Strassner’s second assist of the game.

In the 61^st minute the Seahawks got some help from the weather to cut the deficit to 3-1. Monica Zurich sent a harmless looking ball up field just out of the reach of Briana Vassallo. The Bobcats goalie Elizabeth Cook kneeled down to collect the ball, but had it slip out of her hands. Vassallo was the first to recover and pushed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.

13 minutes later Vassallo connected for her second goal of the game to cut the Bobcats lead to one. This time Julie Vigliotti sent a ball from midfield down the left side to a charging Vassallo. The junior forward ran inside the box and drilled the ball into the top left corner to beat Cook.

The Bobcats didn’t seem shocked and scored the final goal a minute later in the 75^th minute. Fortuna Velaj curved a nice cross from the right side into the box that was originally caught by Wagner’s goalie. Emigholz couldn’t hold on to the wet ball and it dropped right in front of the feet of senior Lindsay Oliveri. Oliveri kicked the ball into the bottom left corner for the 4-2 final. It was her first career goal, and Velaj picked up her team leading seventh assist.

The Bobcats had a season high 29 shots and won for the fourth time in their last five games. They improve to 5-5-1 overall, and 4-1-1 in the NEC.

Wagner registered 9 shots in the loss and drops to 1-12-2 overall and 0-6-1 in the NEC.

Elizabeth Cook recorded 3 saves and improved to 4-0-1 since winning the starting job for the Bobcats.

“I knew she had potential. It was more of a tactical change in terms of bringing her in ahead of Kendra [Margulies], who had done well. It was because of the games against Sacred Heart on turf that Biz placed a little bit higher. It’s worked out well,” said Clarke.

On the other side, Jen Emigholz recorded 11 saves in a losing effort.

The Bobcats now have 13 points in the NEC, three points behind Monmouth and Central Connecticut State University for first place.

Next weekend the Bobcats will go on road for their final two road games of the regular season. They will take on Mount St. Mary’s on Friday, October 23 at 7 p.m. On Sunday, October 25 they will take on Monmouth at 1 p.m.