No. 8/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Rolls To 6-3 Win Against Yale

Saturday, October 24

Hamden, Conn.

4:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-0-1 (0-0-0ECAC))

Yale University

0-1-0 (0-0-0ECAC)

Team	1	2	3	F
YALE	1	1	1	3
Quinnipiac	2	2	2	6

No. 8/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Rolls To 6-3 Win Against Yale

10/24/2015 5:55:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ontario) had two goals and an assist while Melissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Connecticut) had a goal and two assists to lead the No. 8/7 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team to a 6-2 win against Yale in a non-conference match-up of ECAC Hockey opponents at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. The Bobcats remained undefeated at 4-0-1 while Yale opens the season at 0-1-0.

In addition to Kosta and Samoskevich, the Bobcats received multiple-point games from Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) and Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) who each tallied a goal and an assist. Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) and Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario) both had assists in the Bobcats' win while goalie Sydney Rossman (Excelsior, Minnesota) stopped 21 of Yale's 23 shots-on-goal to improve to 4-0-1 on the year.

Raquel Pennoyer (Rehoboth, Massachusetts) scored her first goal of the season and second of her career with a late third period goal to seal the win for the Bobcats.

The Bobcats 4-0-1 start marks their third straight season with an unbeaten streak of at least five games to open up a season. Last season, the Bobcats opened up the season with a program record 16-game unbeaten streak that last until Dec. 6, 2014. With six goals scored against the Bulldogs, the Bobcats set a new team-high for goals scored against their Whitney Ave. rivals while the six goals also mark the second consecutive game the Bobcats have scored five or more goals.

Samoskevich has now recorded a point in the first five games to start her career since Kelly Babstock recorded a point in the first eight games to start her career during the 2010-11 season. Samoskevich's three points also mark her second consecutive game with three points after a three-assist game at Maine on Oct. 10. With Kosta's two goals, she has now scored a goal in three straight games for the Bobcats while Cianfarano has scored a goal in four straight games and recorded at least one point all five games to start the season.

Kosta's first goal came just under the midway mark of the first period. The Bobcats' most-recent 100-point scorer had a shot from the top of the face-off circle blocked and sent into the corner. Nicole Connery won a battle for the puck and handed it to Kosta who cut to the near-side post. Kosta skated around the back of the Yale net, stepped around a Yale defender and then back-handed a shot to the opposite post to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.

Yale's Christa Yip-Chuck responded moments later with the Bulldogs' first goal of the season. Taylor Marchin handed Yip-Chuck the puck at the point before Yip-Chuck wound-up and blasted a shot through traffic the snuck past a screened Syndey Rossman.

With less than two minutes to play in the period, Kosta scored on the power play to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead. Cydney Roesler held the puck below the face-off circle to the right of Yale's goal before zipping the puck over to Samoskevich. Samoskevich then centered a pass to Kosta between the face-off circles. Kosta looked off a defender and then stepped between the dots and blasted a shot top-shelf to beat Yale goalie Hanna Mandl to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead through the first period.

Samoskevich picked up her second point of the game on Cianfarano's fifth goal of the year. Samoskevich fed a wide-open Cianfarano on the left face-off dot before Cianfarano sniped a shot past Mandl to give Quinnipiac a 3-1 lead.

With less than five minutes to play in the second period Yale cut the Bobcats' lead in half on Emily Monaghan's first goal of the season. Eden Murray threw a shot on Rossman from the left face-off dot that the Bobcats' goalie played off her right pad. Monaghan was waiting in the slot and one-timed a shot past Rossman to pull Yale within a goal, 3-2.

The Bobcats got it back less than two minutes later when a failed clear resulted in a 3-on-1 rush. Samoskevich skated down the middle and sent a pass to her left to Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario). Woods zipped a pass across the slot to Cianfarano who touch-passed it back to Samoskevich on the doorstep for the one-timer that beat Mandle five-hole to push Quinnipiac's lead back to two goals, 4-2.

Connery scored her second of the year seven minutes into the third period when she walked across the blue line into the Yale defensive zone, saw daylight between her and the defender and blasted a shot from the face-off circle that beat Mandle, five-hole, to give Quinnipiac a 5-2 lead. Pennoyer dropped in her first of the year going back-and-forth with Kosta in the slot. Pennoyer gave a pass to Kosta just above the crease and then slid to the opposite post, received the puck from Kosta and one-timed it past Mandle as the Bobcats took a 6-2 lead.

Quinnipiac is back in action next weekend with their first pair of ECAC Hockey match-ups of the season, travelling to Brown on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. and at Yale on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m.