QU Women’s Soccer Drops Heartbreaker in Overtime to Monmouth, 2-1

Saturday, October 15

Hesse Field on The Great Lawn - West Long Branch, NJ

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

9-5-1, 5-3-0MAAC

Monmouth

10-4-1, 7-0-0MAAC

OT 2

Quinnipiac

Monmouth

QU Women’s Soccer Drops Heartbreaker in Overtime to Monmouth, 2-1

10/15/2016 10:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

WEST LONG BRANCH, New Jersey – A rollercoaster of emotions swayed up and down throughout the 90+ minutes of play but ultimately ended in heartbreak for the Quinnipiac women's soccer team. The Bobcats (9-5-1, 5-3 MAAC) gave the first place Hawks (10-4-1, 7-0 MAAC) their toughest MAAC match of the season only to see Monmouth prevail, 2-1, in overtime at Hesse Field on Saturday night.

Thanks to a Monmouth equalizer in the 77^th minute, extra time was needed to help determine a winner and the brief 5:53 of overtime was heart wrenching for the 400+ fans on-hand.

Much like the majority of the second half, the Hawks controlled possession early in the extra stanza as generated a pair of corner kicks. A golden opportunity came on the second set piece as a looping ball swung into the box and left inside after several failed clearance swings. With the ball 12 yards from the cage, Julie Spracklin took a big swing only to see her shot saved off the line by the Bobcat back line.

On the ensuing play, the Bobcats countered with a prime scoring opportunity as Jess Fontaine (Enfield, Connecticut) sent a through ball to Ally Grunstein (Warren, New Jersey) gunning up the right wing. Her right-footed shot was a good one as Monmouth's keeper Amanda Knaub had to dive to her right to notch a save but the play wasn't over as the ball came loose right in front. Fontaine beat the Monmouth defender to the ball and flicked a brilliant back-pass to Nadya Gill (Toronto, Ontario) entering the box but the sophomore forward stumbled to the turf to allow Knaub to grab the loose ball amongst the chaos.

Monmouth's unrelenting pressure following the Bobcats' brilliant counter attack ultimately paid off as Olivia Myszewski (Elm Grove, Wisconsin) came up with two more big saves including one destined for the upper corner before the Hawks found the game-winner. Rachelle Ross came up with the heroics as she found the equalizer late in the second half and followed with the golden goal. Sophie Centi gathered a looping corner, spotted Ross open in the box and found her for a one-timer strike that sent the Monmouth bench running onto the field.

I keep saying that it is hard to accelerate the learning process for young players," said Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke postgame. "They can only learn by doing. They need to be in the layoffs to experience the pressure of the playoffs. Monmouth had a bit more guile about them at key moments and in time we will too. I learned a lot about my players and my team tonight. I feel better about tonight's loss than I did about Wednesday's win. That says a lot."

The level of play was top-notch throughout as the battle for first place in the MAAC pitted the two hottest teams coming into play against one another. Quinnipiac came in winners of their last five straight games while Monmouth had won six consecutive contests.

A power in the conference, Monmouth moves to 33-2-2 in regular season games played against MAAC foes since 2013 but Quinnipiac has given the Hawks the most trouble with a mark of 1-2-1. Consistent conference rivals since both joined the Northeast Conference in 1998, all four games played between the two sides as MAAC opponents have been decided by one goal or less while three of the four contests have gone into overtime.

"I think the style of play of the two teams complement each other," Coach Clarke said. "Yes, our games are competitive and at times physical, but both teams try to play. What we have to learn to do is play with the same level of intensity in every MAAC game."

The pace of play was back-and-forth right from the jump as both teams traded scoring chances throughout the first 45 minutes of play. The Bobcats blitzed the Hawks in the opening 10 minutes as Fontaine saw a shot saved off the line by the Monmouth defense while Madison Borowiec (Windsor, Connecticut) hit a post in the sixth minute of play.

Throughout the first 30 minutes of play, Quinnipiac was outshooting Monmouth 9-2 but momentum began to swing in favor of the Hawks. A threatening ball lofted into the box close to save and Bobcats were saved by the post as a header from Dana Scheriff hit the woodwork in the 42^nd minute.

Coming out of halftime, Quinnipiac broke through for the game's first goal as a counter rush in the midfield saw Fontaine push a through ball to Gill streaking up the left wing. Knaub decided to come off her line and challenge the pass but Gill beat her to the ball and poked in her team-leading eighth goal of the season. Fontaine's assist gives her a MAAC-leading nine on the year which is tied for the fifth-most in a single season in program history. She sits just two shy of the program's Div. I record of 11 set by Kirsten Van de Van in 2004.

Gill's goal put the Bobcats out in front as Monmouth faced their first deficit in MAAC play this season. Through six games, the Hawks had outscored conference foes by a margin of +26 (28-2) and never trailed in a single game in that span.

Armed with the lead, Quinnipiac held off the Hawks' pressure for over 20 minutes of play before a speculative ball sent into the box from Rachael Ivanicki found the head of Ross and landed in the back of the net for the equalizer.

Myszewski played the best game of her young career in net as she matched her career high with seven saves. She and the Bobcat back line held a team that came in averaging 4.7 goals per game over their six MAAC games in-check throughout regulation and the freshman keeper came up with a pair of big stops in overtime.

"I cannot fault the effort of my players," Coach Clarke said. "I thought we played well, worked extremely hard for each other and we will learn from the performance and the loss. The attitude of my players after the game was great and we know it was a missed opportunity."

With just two games remaining in the 2016 regular season, a huge showdown looms as the Bobcats next head to Siena on Wednesday for a 3 PM kickoff. Both teams come in with 15 points in the MAAC table and are tied for third place as a win or loss will go a long way in determining home field advantage in the 2016 MAAC Tournament.