QU Women’s Soccer Drops 4-0 Decision at Home to Niagara

Saturday, October 3

Hamden, Conn.

1 pm

Quinnipiac University

5-5-0, 1-2-0MAAC

Niagara

6-3-2, 4-0-0MAAC

Niagara

Quinnipiac

QU Women’s Soccer Drops 4-0 Decision at Home to Niagara

10/3/2015 4:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – Weathering the rough outdoor conditions at home on Saturday proved to not be the toughest battle on the day for the Quinnipiac women's soccer team as the Bobcats fell to the MAAC-leading Niagara Purple Eagles, 4-0. Quinnipiac falls to .500 with the loss, moving to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the MAAC while Niagara remains unbeaten in the MAAC (4-0) and improve to 6-3-2 in 2015.

With the temperatures approaching 40 degrees and the wind howling all afternoon from the QU Soccer Field, offense was hard to come by on the day for the home sided Bobcats. Jess Cascio (Hebron, Connecticut) and Laura Nicholas (Derry City, Ireland) tied for the team-lead in shots on the day with three each while Joanna Proctor (Frimley, England) returned to the starting lineup for the first time in eight games due to injury and played all 90 minutes of action along the back line.

Niagara's heavy hitters along the forward line gave the Bobcat defenders fits all afternoon. At the 34:05 mark of the first half, Laura Ortiz got things started for the Purple Eagles as she spun and fired a perfect shot in the low right corner to beat keeper Natalia Grodzki (Bartlett, Illinois).

Just 1:02 later, the MAAC's second-leading scorer Haillie Price tallied her ninth goal of the season to extend the Niagara lead to 2-0. Kori Thorne created the chance with a perfect overhead through ball from Niagara's defensive side of midfield. The ball took one bounce and then found the foot of Price who made no mistake on her rush up field, going low to the far corner.

Quinnipiac had plenty of opportunities in the first half, generating four corner kicks to none for the Purple Eagles, but Niagara's size along the back line proved too much throughout the conference match.

"I think in the first half Niagara defended the free kicks and corners very well," said Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke. "The physicality of that group overwhelmed us and we very rarely got running at them. Our strength this year has been our offense running at players, but today we just couldn't get any good runs at them."

Coming out of halftime, Niagara continued to push and hold possession throughout the second 45-minute stanza. A costly challenge inside the Bobcats' defensive box led the referee to blow his whistle and call for a penalty kick in the 63-minute mark. With the chance to stretch the lead to 3-0, Ortiz got the call and didn't disappoint as her shot went to Grodzki's left while the Bobcat goalkeeper dove right.

Eva Bachmann slammed home a free kick from just outside the box to make it 4-0 before the time expired.

Jess Fontaine (Enfield, Connecticut) moved out of her normal midfield position and stepped into a spot as the center back for the full 90 minutes in today's game. Nicholas also played her first full 90-minute game of the 2015 campaign in the losing effort.

Quinnipiac hits the road with the continuation of MAAC play as the Bobcats head to Marist on Wednesday night for a 7 PM kickoff.