Furious Comeback Bid for QU Women’s Soccer Comes Up Short in 3-2 MAAC Semifinal Loss to Manhattan

Tuesday, October 31

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex - Lake Buena Vista, FL

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

9-7-3, 5-2-3MAAC

Manhattan

10-6-3, 6-2-2MAAC

Quinnipiac

Manhattan

Furious Comeback Bid for QU Women’s Soccer Comes Up Short in 3-2 MAAC Semifinal Loss to Manhattan

10/31/2017 5:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Bobcats Nearly Pull Off Three-Goal Comeback as Manhattan Thwarts a Furious Rally Bid

By: QU Athletic Communications

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Quinnipiac women's soccer saw their season come to a devastating end in a 3-2 MAAC Semifinal loss at the hands of the second-seeded Manhattan Jaspers. The fans in-attendance down in Florida were gifted quite the match on Tuesday afternoon as Quinnipiac put on an epic rally attempt only to see their efforts thwarted by Manhattan in the closing stages.

This seesawing affair saw the Bobcats go down 3-0 within the opening 27 minutes of play, only to see Quinnipiac claw their way back and nearly pull off what would have been the largest comeback in program history.

Hannah Reiter (Mansfield, Massachusetts) put home a big goal towards the later stages of the first half, giving her team life heading into the second half. Just under seven minutes into the second stanza, Kelsey Goldring (Armonk, New York) was the victim of a reckless late challenge from Manhattan as the Jaspers were whistled for a foul in the box. Nadya Gill (Toronto, Ontario) stepped to the circle but Kelly DiGregorio came up with the play of the game, diving to her right and snagging the penalty kick attempt.

Despite the setback, Quinnipiac continued to push and got another one back as Madison Borowiec (Windsor, Connecticut) slotted home another huge tally off a feed from Goldring. The Bobcat onslaught continued in the waning minutes as Gill was denied again by DiGregorio while Borowiec had a free header in the box sail just wide of the post before the clock wound down, ending Quinnipiac's 2017 season.

SCORE
Manhattan 3 / Quinnipiac 2

LOCATION
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex / Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (9-7-3) / Manhattan (10-6-3)

SCORING SUMMARY

2:48 (MAN 1, QU 0): Manhattan's Erica Modena punished the Bobcats for a costly turnover in the midfield as the MAAC's Offensive Player of the Year made no mistake on her breakaway goal.
9:23 (MAN 2, QU 0): Arianna Montefusco scored her first of two on the day on a rebound as Emma Saul blasted one that was initially blocked away by the Bobcat defense but cleaned up by the Jaspers.
26:54 (MAN 3, QU 0): The Jaspers' first half onslaught continued as a devastating counter attack saw Modena feed Montefusco who blasted one top corner from just inside the box.
33:25 (MAN 3, QU 1): The comeback bid began more than midway through the first half as a Quinnipiac corner kick went far post to the head of Kylie Lance (Stow, Massachusetts) who flicked on to Madison Borowiec (Windsor, Connecticut). A second header from Borowiec took one bounce in the box and Hannah Reiter (Mansfield, Massachusetts) slotted home the goal off her right foot.

GOAL: Hannah Reiter cuts the Manhattan lead to 2. pic.twitter.com/0S9VFnXkKS
— QU Women's Soccer (@QUWomensSoccer) October 31, 2017

71:23 (MAN 3, QU 2): Riding the wave of momentum, Kelsey Goldring (Armonk, New York) blasted a shot that was initially deflected and then fed to Borowiec at the top of the box. Stepping on to her right foot, Borowiec used all the time she had to blast one to the top right corner.

GOAL: Madison Borowiec cuts the lead down to 1! The Bobcats have life. pic.twitter.com/HLLAqbCgsF
— QU Women's Soccer (@QUWomensSoccer) October 31, 2017

NOTES

Quinnipiac sees their season come to an end in the semifinal round of the MAAC Tournament, marking the second straight season the Bobcats have advanced to semis
Prior to last season, Quinnipiac hadn't won a postseason game since the 2000 Northeast Conference Championship game
Reiter netted her first goal of the season, giving the Bobcats 12 different goal scorers on the season (2^nd-most in the MAAC)
Borowiec factored in both Bobcat goals as she totaled three points with one goal and one assist, upping her season total to five goals and seven assists for 17 points (career highs across the board)
Lance was once again involved in the action as she recorded one assist, finishing the 2017 season riding a four-game point streak (0 points in the first 14 games of the season)
Olivia Myszewski (Elm Grove, Wisconsin) was peppered early with three goals allowed but she bounced back and totaled 10 saves on the afternoon for the second-highest single-game total of her career
Myszewski was equal to the task in the second half as the sophomore made all six saves in net to keep the Bobcats alive down the stretch
Quinnipiac's 41 goals this season go down as the ninth-highest single-season total in program history while the Bobcats' 53 assists are the second-highest single-season total
The nine-win campaign for the Bobcats in 2017 is good enough for the seventh-most winningest season in Quinnipiac's Division I era (since 1998)

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Dave Clarke
"We wanted to possess the ball and draw Manhattan out but conceding the goal in the maner we did rocked us. Before we settled down, we conceded another and we had to chase the game. The third came against the run of play but we kept playing, kept working and got back in it."

"Had the penalty kick gone in early in the seconf half to make it 3-2, then it might have changed the momentum. To be fair, we kept at it, got the second goal and probably deserved to level the game."

"We showed character, didn't give up and exit with our pride intact."

NEXT SEASON
Quinnipiac loses top scorer Gill to graduation as the forward was lauded as an All-MAAC First Team selection after racking up 34 points (13 goals, eight assists) which goes down as the 19^th-higest scoring season in MAAC history. In addition, Quinnipiac will need to replace the loss of Laura Nicholas, Emma Greco, Carly Glaser, Jillian Consolini and Sarah Pandolfi but the team will return 91 points out of 135 (67.4 percent) scored this season.