QU Women's Ice Hockey Wins First ECAC Hockey Regular Season Championship with 9-0 Shutout of Union

Friday, February 19

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

25-2-5 (15-2-4ECAC)

Union College

0-27-6 (0-18-3ECAC)

Union

Quinnipiac

QU Women's Ice Hockey Wins First ECAC Hockey Regular Season Championship with 9-0 Shutout of Union

2/19/2016 10:41:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – The nationally-ranked No. 4/4 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team clinched their first ECAC Hockey Regular Season Championship title in program history Friday night with a 9-0 win against the Union Dutchwomen at High Point Solutions Arena.

Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) tied the program record for goals in a single game with four and tallied a single-season career-high five points in the win. Cianfarano tied Kelly Babstock's record set on Oct. 12, 2012 against the Maine Black Bears. Even more impressive, Cianfarano scored four straight goals for the Bobcats from the end of the first period until the end of the second period.

With five points, Cianfarano became the third player in program history to score five points, joining Kelly Babstock who did it twice and Shiann Darkangelo who did it once. Cianfarano now has 27 goals this season and 47 points, both good for third in program history.

Quinnipiac (25-2-5, 15-2-4 ECAC Hockey) commanded first place in the ECAC Hockey standings for much of the season before clinching the title on Friday. The win also ties the Bobcats' program record for conference wins in a single season with 15. With the loss, Union falls to 0-27-6 (0-18-3 ECAC Hockey) and extends its winless streak to 50 games. The Bobcats nine goals in the game were the most they scored in a single game since Nov. 26, 2010 in a 9-1 victory against Sacred Heart.

Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ontario) recorded four points to finish second on the team and led the Bobcats with three assists in the win. Kosta's three assists and four points tied her single-game career-highs. Kosta has now scored 10 goals in three straight seasons and recorded 20 or more points in for straight seasons, finishing the game with 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points.

Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) got back into the scoring rhythm with three points on the night, capitalized by two goals. Connery became the third player in program history to record at least 40 goals and 40 assists in a career, joining Kelly Babstock and Erica Uden Johansson. In her career, Connery has 40 goals and 55 assists for 95 points.

Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) also had three points for the Bobcats with one goal and two assists to boost her season point total to 32 points. Woods has nine goals and 23 assists on the season after becoming the fourth player to record three or more points in the game.
Miranda Lantz (Mildmay, Ontario) was credited with the game-winning goal as she scored the first goal of her career. Lantz now has six points on the season to go along with her five assists.

The Bobcats got single assists in the victory from Melissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Connecticut), Raquel Pennoyer (Rehoboth, Massachusetts), Shannon Cherpak (Enfield, Connecticut), Lindsey West (Ajax, Ontario), Kristen Tamberg (North Toronto, Ontario) and Alicia Barry (Hanson, Massachusetts).

Sydney Rossman (Excelsior, Minnesota) didn't let the offense overshadow her as she made 13 saves in the win to get her 14^th shutout of the season. Earning her 25^th victory of the season, Rossman tied Chelsea Laden's program record for wins in a single season which she set during last year's spectacular run.

The Bobcats outshot the Dutchwomen 45-13 in the rout, including a 15-2 advantage in the third period. Quinnipiac scored three goals in every period, including Cianfarano's hat trick in the second period alone. The Bobcats were also 1 for 1 on the power play, as they have now scored a power-play goal in 10 of the last 11 games.

Lantz scored her first career goal 6:24 into the first period to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead over the Dutchwomen. Barry dumped the puck down in front to Pennoyer where she fired a shot on goal but it kicked out into the slot. Lantz crashed the net and buried the rebound.

Quinnipiac took a 2-0 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the first period with Kosta's goal. Tamberg fired a shot on goal from the point but it was knocked down by an Union defenseman. Cherpak chased down the rebound on the left boards before skating the puck in from the corner where she passed the puck across the face of the goal to Kosta on the back door for the goal.

Cianfarano gave the Bobcats a 3-0 lead with only 2:57 to play in the first period. The puck bounced around in the offensive zone before Woods kicked the puck to Cianfarano in the right circle. Cianfarano skated from the right boards, down into the corner, around the defense and back in front of the goal where she rifled the shot past Union goaltender Melissa Black's blocker side.

Cianfarano added a second goal on the power play with 12:51 left in the second period to make it 4-0. The Bobcats reset the play on the ice behind their own goal with Taryn Baumgardt (Innisfail, Alberta) feeding the puck to Connery at the defensive blue line. Connery zipped a pass back across the neutral zone to West who tipped the puck up to Cianfarano who circled from the right corner and banked the shot off Black for the goal.

Cianfarano picked up the hat trick with 6:24 to play in the second period to tally her third career hat trick, and second natural hat trick of her career. Woods fired a shot from the high slot where the rebound found Samoskevich who passed it to Cianfarano on the doorstep to put home for the goal past Union's second goaltender of the game, Leah Patrick.

Three goals were not enough for Cianfarano, as she added her career-high fourth goal of the game just under four minutes later to take a 6-0 lead. After Kosta skated the puck into the offensive zone, she waited in the right corner for more help, and Cianfarano streaked down the slot where she peppered the shot off the post and past Patrick for the goal.

Woods got into the scoring action for the Bobcats as Cianfarano added an assist for her fifth point of the game with 14:24 to play in the third period. Woods stopped the puck at the top of the left face-off circle before dumping the puck down to Cianfarano in the left corner. Cianfarano skated around the goal before feeding the puck to Woods in front.

Connery tallied her first goal of the game 41 seconds later with 13:05 to play in the third period to give the Bobcats an 8-0 lead. Connery skated the puck into the neutral zone before hitting Kosta with a pass at center ice. Kosta skated the puck through the right face-off circle down to the end line before passing the puck back up to Connery who one timed the puck past Patrick.

Connery added her second goal of the game with 10:06 to play in the third period to give the Bobcats a 9-0 lead. Right off the faceoff, Kosta won the puck back to Connery at the top of the right circle where she rifled the puck low past Patrick's blocker for the goal.

The Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team wraps up the regular season Saturday afternoon with senior day when they take on the Rensselaer Engineers at 4 P.M. at High Point Solutions Arena. The Bobcats will honor Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario), Tamberg, Kosta, Connery, Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) and West.