After two weeks off, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team picked up right where they left off going into their bye week with a 5-0 shutout victory over Brown on Friday night from High Point Solutions Arena.
Freshman Nicole Connery and junior Kelly Babstock each pumped in two goals while senior Victoria Vigilanti made 12 saves in net for her 23rd career shutout. The Bobcats win their third straight, improving to 15-9-2 (9-5-1 ECAC Hockey) and leapfrogging St. Lawrence in the point standings as Quinnipiac now sits in fourth place with 19 points.
Connery's second career multi-goal reflects her stellar play of late as the freshman has score five points (three goals, two assists) over the past three games. Playing in her 100th career game for Quinnipiac, Babstock lit the lamp twice for her 16th career multi-goal game and moves her team-leading point total to 45 (23 goals, 22 assists) on the season.
Senior Brittany Lyons chipped in two assists for her third career game with at least two helpers. Senior Regan Boulton also chipped in with an assist for her 70th career point (23 goals, 47 assists), making her the third player in Quinnipiac history to amass at least 70 in their career.
The remainder of the Bobcats littered the stat sheet with assists as eight other players registered at least one assist on the evening. The five-goal margin of victory is the largest for the Bobcats since Nov. 26, 2010 when they beat Sacred Heart, 9-1 and their second-most lopsided victory in conference play in program history. The win also gives Quinnipiac their third winning streak of at least three games this season.
The second offensive line of Connery, Lyons and junior Amanda Colin ignited the Bobcat scoring early. The threesome hustled up ice on an odd man rush with a shot from Connery going just wide of the net. Lyons corralled the puck behind the net, flipped it in front to Colin and eventually the goal was knocked in by Connery at 3:39 in the first.
Transition offense again from the second offensive unit led to another goal two minutes later. Connery took the outlet pass from freshman Kristen Tamberg and sped up ice to create an opportunity. Her crossing attempt was deflected by a Brown defender but picked up by Lyons who shot on net. The rebound was left right in front to Connery who put in the goal for a 2-0 lead. The goal was Connery's ninth of the season while Lyons and Tamberg each tallied their fifth assist.
The third goal was a beauty from Babstock as the blue line tandem of senior Regan Boulton and freshman Cydney Roesler passed back and forth. Roesler possessed above the far side faceoff dot, found Babstock open at the far post and hit her with the pass which the program's all-time leading scorer dropped in the back of the net.
Another goal in the second gave Quinnipiac a four-goal advantage. Freshman Nicole Brown found sophomore Nicole Kosta open at the blue line. Kosta took the pass and gave off to Babstock cutting through the middle of the Brown defense. Babstock gave one forehand fake before beating Brown goalie Katie Jamieson stick side for her 23rd tally of the season. Kosta's assist gives her 24 on the year to lead the team while Brown registered her sixth.
An insurance goal late from senior Felica Vieweg finished off the scoring. Senior Kristen Eklund won the faceoff back to senior Breann Frykas, who passed back to Vieweg at the point. Her wrist shot made it through heavy traffic in front of the net and into the back of the net for her third of the season.
Also of significance in Friday's game is the Bobcats were all playing with purple ribbon stickers on their helmets in remembrance of Daron Richardson, the younger sister of Cornell freshman Morgan Richardson, who took her own life in Nov. 2010 at age 14. The Big Red created the "Do It For Daron" series to raise awareness and inspire conversations about youth mental health, according to the website www.difd.com.
The Bobcats now turn around to take on crosstown rival Yale tomorrow afternoon from the High Point Solutions Arena at 4 p.m.
