Jess Fontaine’s Two First Half Tallies Power QU Women’s Soccer Past Maine, 3-1

Sunday, September 13

Hamden, Conn.

1 pm

Quinnipiac University

4-1-0

Maine

4-3-0

Maine

Quinnipiac

Jess Fontaine’s Two First Half Tallies Power QU Women’s Soccer Past Maine, 3-1

9/13/2015 3:52:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – A three-goal first half barrage, powered by Jess Fontaine's first career multi-goal game, proved enough for the Quinnipiac women's soccer team to put away Maine, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon from the QU Soccer Field. The Bobcats' second straight win improves QU to 4-1 in 2015, continuing their best start to a season since the 2012 campaign (4-0-1).

The youthful Bobcats continue to impress in the new season as QU picks up their fourth win in five games while also prolonging the team's home winning streak, which is now up to four games dating back to the 2014 season.

"We got off to a good start which I'm happy about especially with a young team to give them something to build on," said Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke. "Being three goals up was definitely unexpected against a good Maine team who were coming off a 5-0 win over Marist the other night. The first half didn't end well. The second half we never got going. The good thing is we held on and won so that's something we can all build on."

Fontaine's (Enfield, Connecticut) breakout 2015 season continued in the Hamden sun as she tallied two goals to pick up her first career multi-goal game. The Bobcats' leading active career scorer, with nine goals and six assists to her name in 37 appearances, now has eight points (three goals, two assists) through five games this season. The junior midfielder has either scored or assisted on 50 percent of the Bobcats' goals while she is just one point shy of matching her single-season career high set back in 2013 (three goals, three assists).

Joining Fontaine in the scoring column was freshman Jess Gargan (Dublin, Ireland) as her first career tally resulted in the eventual game-winner for the Bobcats. Combined with classmate Nadya Gill's (Toronto, Onatrio) three game-winners, all four of Quinnipiac's game-winning goals this season have come from freshmen. Several assists were also dished out on the day as Kelly Caruso (Rocky Hill, Connecticut) and Ashley Wendland (Hamden, Connecticut) each picked up their second helper of the season while Gill and Madison Borowiec (Windsor, Connecticut) each tallied their first career assist.

Goalkeeper Natalia Grodzki (Bartlett, Illinois) was gifted a three-goal lead before the halftime whistle and she played a brilliant game in the cage to pick up her single-season career high fourth win of the campaign. Despite conceding a tally to Maine three minutes before the halftime whistle, Grodzki navigated plenty of second half pressure and didn't allow a goal despite the Black Bears firing 10 shots (three on-goal) in the final 45 minutes of play.

In front of a healthy crowd of 300+ strong at the QU Soccer Field, Fontaine gave the home faithful plenty to cheer about early as she scored the first tally of the game just 1:25 into play. With Quinnipiac holding possession on the Maine defensive side of midfield, Gill pushed the ball up field on the left side. As Fontaine sprinted up the middle, Gill flicked a centering pass to Fontaine who slid the ball past Maine's freshman keeper Samantha Cobotic.

"It was a quick start, I didn't expect up to get a goal that early on," Fontaine said. "But Nadya played a nice through ball and I ended up getting on the end of it."

Just over four minutes later, Quinnipiac continued the opening blitz as Gargan in the right place at the right time. The goal-scoring play started with a corner kick send-in from Caruso on the near-side corner. Wendland rose above the Maine defense to get a head on the Caruso cross and her pass found the feet of Gargan just 10 feet away from the goal line. With Wendland's pass going directly to Gargan, the Maine defense had no time to recover as the freshman out of Ireland picked up the ball and buried home her first career goal.

Some added insurance came off the foot of Fontaine in the 27^th minute Jess Cascio (Hebron, Connecticut) sent-in a free kick from 40 yards out. Maine did not land good contact on a clearance attempt and Borowiec was right on the spot as she nudged a pass forward to Fontaine who shook free of the Maine defensive pressure. With the goalkeeper out of position, Fontaine slid the ball to her right foot and made no mistake as she put the Bobcats ahead 3-0 just 27:11 into play.

"Having a lead is something we're not used to dating back to the last few seasons but it's nice having to work through these situations now when we're ahead," Grodzki said. "I think we did get a little stressed because we're not used to it but I think it's something in the future where we'll have a lead and be able to calm down and continue to play our style."

The three-goal first half outburst marked the first time Quinnipiac posted three goals in the first stanza since scoring three against Wagner on Oct. 5, 2012 in what resulted in a 4-1 win.

Maine pressed forward towards the end of the first half, eventually picking up a goal at the far post after a free kick deep in the Bobcats' defensive end, but the Quinnipiac defense was up to the task throughout.

The Black Bears nearly cut the lead down to one goal as Charlene Achille fired a shot on the net from just outside the box. Grodzki read the shot correctly, dove to her right and managed to get a finger on the shot to push it wide of the cage.

Through five games in 2015, Quinnipiac has already bested their 2014 win total (three) and have compiled their most wins since 2012 (9-6-2 overall).

Quinnipiac will face their fourth straight America East foe on Tuesday afternoon as the Bobcats welcome the UAlbany Great Danes to the QU Soccer Field for a 4 PM kickoff.