Meghan Turner Nets Game-Winner, Cassandra Turner Wins First Game as No. 7/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Defeats Mercyhurst, 2-1

Saturday, October 3

Hamden, Conn.

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

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

Mercyhurst University

0-1-1 (0-0-0CHA)

Mercyhurst

Quinnipiac

Meghan Turner Nets Game-Winner, Cassandra Turner Wins First Game as No. 7/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Defeats Mercyhurst, 2-1

10/3/2015 4:04:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - Junior forward Meghan Turner (Bedford, New Hampshire) scored the game-winning goal in the second period of action Saturday noon to lead the nationally-ranked No. 7/7 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team to a 2-1 win over Mercyhurst, giving head coach Cassandra Turner her first victory as the head coach of the Bobcats.

Meghan Turner's game-winning goal was her first as she netted the 10^th goal of her career in the Bobcats first victory of the season.

"Any win is a good win. They gave me the puck and it was great, our captain (Cydney Roesler) presented me with the puck and I put it in our puck board," head coach Cassandra Turner said. "It's a team win, and we had a number of people really step up and make big plays. I think because of the way we won I will remember this one but it certainly was a good team effort from everyone today."

Turner is the fastest head coach in Quinnipiac women's ice hockey history to record her first win, taking just two games to do so. Not only was the Bobcats' victory Cassandra Turner's first, but it was also the first time Quinnipiac (1-0-1, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) defeated Mercyhurst (0-1-1, 0-0-0 CHA) in Hamden and just their second victory against the Lakers all time. The last time the Bobcats defeated the Lakers was Oct. 1, 2011 in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Sophomore Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) scored her first goal of the season and recorded her third point of the season in the victory for the Bobcats.

Freshman Melissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Connecticut) tallied her first career assist while seniors Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario) and Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) tallied their first assists of the season.

Junior goaltender Sydney Rossman (Excelsior, Minnesota) recorded 25 saves on 26 shots to tie her career high for saves in a game, which she set as a freshman against RIT in the Nutmeg Classic on Nov. 29, 2013.

Quinnipiac struck first for the second consecutive game with a goal just 7:33 into the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Roesler collected a turnover by Mercyhurst in the Bobcats' defensive zone to give the Bobcats possession. Roesler found Samoskevich on the left boards in front of the Quinnipiac bench with a pass, and Samoskevich kept her head up to find Cianfarano streaking down the center of the ice. Samoskevich's pass hit Cianfarano in stride at the blue line where she skated one on one against Mercyhurst goaltender Jessica Convery, deking Convery with the forehand to backhand move to bury the puck for the goal.

The Bobcats' lead lasted until the 5:14 mark of the first period when the Lakers tied up the game. Emily Janiga, who scored two goals the night before, gathered a loose puck deep in the offensive zone and skated behind the Bobcats goal before spinning to face the goal on the other side. Janiga's initial shot was saved by Rossman but the rebound kicked back to Janiga where she lifted the puck to Jenna Dingeldein who batted home the puck in mid-air for the equalizer.

Turner scored the game-winning goal 3:51 into the second period and the Bobcats wouldn't look back. After stealing the puck in the offensive zone, Turner pushed the puck around the boards where Brown controlled it behind the goal. Brown was able to tap the puck back to Turner on the right side of the goal where she brought the puck from her forehand to her back hand just above the end line to roof the puck high, glove side past Convery for the game-winner.

Mercyhurst turned up the pressure heading into the third period, outshooting the 19-13 over the final two periods of play, but Rossman stopped every shot over that span for the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac saved the game on an impressive five-minute penalty kill that lasted from 8:44 to 3:44 remaining in the final frame. Mercyhurst recorded seven shots on the power play, but Rossman denied them all in the win.

The Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team returns to action on Friday, Oct. 9 when it travels to Orono, Maine for a two-game series with the Maine Black Bears. Puck drop is set for 7 P.M. on Friday and 2 P.M. on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Alfond Arena.