Team Defense, Three Goal Scorers Headline QU Women’s Soccer’s 3-0 Shutout of UMass Lowell

Tuesday, August 23

Hamden, Conn.

4:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

2-0-0

UMass Lowell

0-1-1

UMass Lowell

Quinnipiac

Team Defense, Three Goal Scorers Headline QU Women’s Soccer’s 3-0 Shutout of UMass Lowell

8/23/2016 7:26:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Sophomore Keeper Devan Malcolm (Five Saves) Pitches Shutout in First Career Appearance

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – Seeking revenge from a 3-1 loss in Lowell last season, the Quinnipiac women's soccer team took it to the River Hawks in the 2016 version as the Bobcats posted a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday from the QU Soccer Field. The clinical defensive effort, backed up by three different goal scorers, helped push the Bobcats' record to 2-0 on the year while the River Hawks dropped to 0-1-1.

Devan Malcolm (Natick, Massachusetts) earned the starting nod for the Bobcats and delivered in what was her first career appearance. The sophomore keeper notched five saves to not only pick up the win but also notch a clean sheet in her collegiate debut. She became the first Quinnipiac goalkeeper to post a shutout in their first career appearance since Class of 2016 graduate Natalia Grodzki recorded a two-save shutout in her debut back on Sept. 7, 2012.

Three different goal scorers filled the stat sheet for Quinnipiac as Nadya Gill (Toronto, Ontario), Sarah Pandolfi (North Haven, Connecticut) and Madison Borowiec (Windsor, Connecticut) picked up the goals for the Bobcats. Gill recorded her second goal of 2016 as well as the 10^th of her career and sixth game-winning goal in 19 career appearances. After missing the entire 2015 campaign due to injury, Pandolfi blasted home her first career goal as a Bobcat in the win while Borowiec registered her second career goal and is now tied for second on the team in points with three.

Even though the score may indicate a one-sided affair, UMass Lowell finished with the upper hand in shots 16-12 and nearly came up with the game's first goal. Coming off a corner kick from the far side, the crossing ball landed on the foot of a River Hawk and was fired on net. Rachel Morrier was positioned in an opportune spot and deflected a spot on-target, only to be denied by the foot of Joanna Proctor (Frimley, England – pictured above) who guarded her post to perfection and booted the ball out of harm's way.
A scoreless game until the 31^st minute, Gill showed her supreme skill to bust open the scoring and ultimately boot in the game-winner. The sophomore forward started the goal-scoring play by winning a tackle near midfield. She then carried in, going one-on-one with the River Hawk center back and juking the defender to the grass. As the UMass Lowell keeper came out to challenge the Bobcat striker, Gill cleverly looked up and fired a shot low that trickled into the back of the net.

Coming out of the halftime locker room, the River Hawks put the pressure on early with three shots in the first nine minutes but Pandolfi was the one who cashed in following a great setup from Kylie Lance (Stow, Massachusetts). The tandem both missed the 2015 season due to injury but made their presence known in a great sequence that started with Lance at midfield as she carried over the line and hit Pandolfi on the left wing with a through-ball that skied over the River Hawk defenders. As Pandolfi entered the box at the near post, she rocketed a shot that deflected off the keeper's head and in as a desperate attempt by an UMass Lowell defender to save the ball off the line came up empty. Lance recorded her first career assist on the Pandolfi goal in the 58^th minute.

In search of one more insurance marker, Jess Fontaine (Enfield, Connecticut) flashed tons of skill at the near sideline as she carried the ball into the box and nearly to the end line before looking up to find an open Borowiec in the box. Fontaine's pass to the middle was perfect as the sophomore midfielder Borowiec had time to bury a shot into the open net to make it 3-0 in the 74^th minute.

Malcolm posted four of her five saves in the first 45 minutes of play including four in a 14-minute span midway through the first half. After sitting behind Grodzki all of last season, the sophomore helped organize a back line of Lance, Proctor, Sarahkate Norton (East Bridgewater, Massachusetts) and Katrina Friedman (Syosset, New York) that limited the River Hawks throughout the entire 90 minutes of play.

Quinnipiac now hits the road for the first time in 2016 as the Bobcats head down to face NJIT on Friday, August 26 at 4 PM in a game that will be played at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.