QU Women's Lacrosse Travels to Marist for MAAC Quarterfinal Matchup on Saturday

MAAC Quarterfinal
#6 Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-12, 3-5 MAAC) at
#3 Marist Red Foxes (9-8, 5-3 MAAC)
Saturday, April 29, 2017 – 1:00 PM
Tenney Stadium – Poughkeepsie, NY
All-Time Series vs. Marist: Series tied 5-5
Last Meeting: L, 10-4 (2017 – Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)

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The Quinnipiac women's lacrosse team heads into their first-ever MAAC Tournament appearance this weekend as the No. 6 seeded Bobcats travel to Poughkeepsie, New York to take on the No. 3 seed Marist on Saturday at 1:00 PM. Quinnipiac has put together its greatest single-season in over five years as the Bobcats' three MAAC wins in 2017 is more than their previous two seasons combined (one each in 2015 and 2016). Having been picked last in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Bobcats have proved many doubters wrong this season and look to continue to make history this weekend against the Red Foxes. The winner of Saturday's postseason contest advances to the semifinal round held at Canisius next weekend. In the event of a Quinnipiac victory, the Bobcats would take on the host and No. 1 seeded Golden Griffins.

LAST GAME
A seesawing affair that featured 37 goals was just a one-goal game with three minutes to go and the Bobcats holding possession at home against Niagara. Trailing 17-14 just four minutes prior, the Bobcats clawed their way back to within one but suffered a costly turnover that flipped possession back to the Purple Eagles. Niagara worked the ball in their end for nearly one minute before Alexis Morales took her defender on one-on-one and finished into the top corner that made it 18-16 Purple Eagles. Niagara won the ensuing draw control as the Purple Eagles had done the entire game, amassing a 29-10 edge in the crucial statistical category, and scored three goals in the closing minutes to run away with the tightly contested 21-16 win. This epic offensive duel saw the Bobcats tally new season highs in both goals (16) and shots (33) while the 16-goal total is the most scored by Quinnipiac since defeating St. Francis (PA) 20-8 back on April 21, 2013 (63 games ago). Alex Hlesciak paced the goal-scoring spree as she went for a career high seven points (five goals, two assists) while Ashley Bobinski added five (four goals, one assist) and Allison Kuhn and Julia Corrice each posted four points on the afternoon.

SCOUTING THE RED FOXES
The No. 3 seed Marist (9-8, 5-3 MAAC) continues their line of success in the conference as the Red Foxes advance to their sixth straight MAAC Tournament, having won the MAAC title once in the 2008 season. Marist enters the postseason playing at their best as the Red Foxes ride a three-game win streak into the quarterfinals, defeating Niagara, Iona and Siena in the process. Marist is a solid offensive team despite having graduated the 2016 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Allison Gionta who finished last season with the second-highest single-season scoring record in MAAC history with 88 points. Relying this season heavily on Olivia Pitonzo, the senior comes in ranking third in the MAAC in assists per game (1.94) and fifth in points per game (3.50) while totaling 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) through 17 games in 2017. Samantha Mehalick leads the Red Foxes in goals (36) while Marist fields six players (Mehalick 36, Natalie Bonaroti 33, Hailey Wagner 29, Pitonzo 26, Lauren Mazza 24 and Audrey Cerrone 23) who all have at least 20 goals on the season. Combined with the well-balanced offensive attack, Marist fields their best goalkeeper in program history as all-time wins leader Abigail Witczak has played every minute in goal for the Red Foxes and she comes in with 10.97 goals-against average, .510 save percentage and 9-8 record. Witczak finds herself ranked second in the nation in total saves (195) this season while also sitting fifth in saves per game (11.47) and ninth in save percentage (.510). Wagner is also a huge factor on draw controls as she recently set a Marist single-season program record as she stands with 106 draw controls for the season, ranking eighth in the nation in draw controls per game (6.24).

SERIES HISTORY
Quinnipiac's move to the MAAC signaled a resumption of the Bobcats' annual rivalry with the Red Foxes that the two teams enjoyed for a majority of the first six years since QU joined the Div. I ranks (1998-99). The series is tied all-time at 5-5 but the last time Quinnipiac defeated Marist came all the way back on March 21, 2004 with a 15-10 win at home. The last win for QU in Poughkeepsie was a 13-11 win on April 23, 2002. Marist won the meeting earlier this season, 10-4, on their home turf.

MAAC TOURNAMENT BOUND
Quinnipiac made history last Wednesday night, clinching a MAAC Tournament berth for the first time in program history with an 11-10 win over Siena (4/19). After recording just four wins in their first three seasons in the MAAC (including just two wins in the last two seasons combined), the Bobcats have made a splash in 2017 with three conference victories despite the previous struggles and being picked last in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

NATIONAL RANKING
A pair of Bobcats in juniors Kyle Larkin and Kiera Kelly find themselves listed among the national leaders in several defensive statistical categories this season. Larkin has been a standout in the cage all season as she ranks fifth in the nation in saves (175), sixth in saves per game (10.94) and 31st in save percentage (.470). A standout defender in the field, Kelly comes in ranking 10^th in the nation in caused turnovers per game (2.44) and 14^th in ground balls per game (3.38).

NO MARGIN FOR ERROR
In all four Quinnipiac victories, the goal differential has been just one (CCSU 10-9, Manhattan 12-11, Iona 14-13, Siena 11-10) as the Bobcats have eked out all four wins in 2017 by a combined scoring margin of +4. The last time Quinnipiac recorded four one-goal wins in one campaign came when the team amassed four of their seven victories by one-goal margins in the 2012 season.

LARKIN'S LASER-LIKE FOCUS
Quinnipiac's road loss to Marist (4/8) saw Kyle Larkin dominate in goal as the junior posted a career high 20 saves on 30 shots-on-goal in a 10-4 defeat. Larkin's career highlight sees her become the first Quinnipiac goalkeeper to stop at least 20 shots in a single-game since Megan Matthews posted a program record 24 saves on March 30, 2003. Larkin's 20-save effort marked just the fifth time in Quinnipiac history that a goalkeeper has reached the 20-save mark.

COMEBACK CATS
After going more than two full seasons without coming back from a three-goal deficit in the second half, Quinnipiac has managed to overcome three-goal second half deficits in three of their four wins this season (10-9 over CCSU, 12-11 at Manhattan, 14-13 in overtime at Iona). The most-recent 11-10 win over Siena (4/19) saw the Bobcats overcome a two-goal second half deficit. Prior to the start of 2017, Quinnipiac had gone 38 games without accomplishing that feat as their last win before the start of the season when trailing by at least three in the second half came on March 29, 2014 as the Bobcats trailed Manhattan 10-6 before coming back to win 12-11.

OVERCOMING IN OVERTIME
Quinnipiac's 14-13 overtime win at Iona signaled the first time the Bobcats won an overtime decision since defeating Iona 13-12 back on March 6, 2013. The Bobcats had lost their last three straight overtime games prior to defeating the Gaels on the road.

HLESCIAK HERE TO SCORE
Alex Hlesciak's 2017 season has been a revelation as the senior comes in with a team-leading 30 goals in 16 games played thus far while also adding 24 draw controls, 15 ground balls and eight caused turnovers. The 30 goals leads the team while Hlesciak has set single-season career highs in every statistical category. The senior midfielder came into the season with 18 career goals through her first three seasons (40 games) as a Bobcat. Hlesciak recently tallied a career high seven points while matching her career high with five goals in a 21-16 loss to Niagara (4/23), marking the fourth hat trick of her career (all in 2017). In eight MAAC games, Hlesciak compiled 16 goals in eight games to tie for the team-lead with Allison Kuhn.

LARKIN'S LEAP
Kyle Larkin's play in the cage has been stellar over the last 13 games as she has accumulated 154 saves (11.8 per game) over that span. She rattled off a career high streak of double digit saves in five straight games, while her career total now stands at 17 double-digit save outings. Her lowest single-game save percentage in that 12-game span is .333 while she has saved at least 50 percent of all shots-on-goal in seven of the 13 games. Larkin's goals against average stands at 13.14 in the stretch while she has posted an impressive .484 cumulative save percentage.

FLARE FOR THE DRAMATIC
Quinnipiac's leading scorer Allison Kuhn (24-13-37) has had a flare for the dramatic all season, as the sophomore has produced two game-winning goals while assisting on the game-tying goal in the Bobcats' win over Manhattan (4/1). With her team trailing 8-5 against CCSU (2/18), Kuhn scored or assisted on four of the five goals in a game-deciding 5-0 run for Quinnipiac over a 10-minute span. Facing a 10-8 deficit at Manhattan with 10 minutes remaining, Kuhn scored the game-tying goal that made it 10-10 and later assisted on Ellie Swenson's game-tying goal to make it 11-11, all prior to Ashley Bobinski's game-winner. Finally, in an overtime win at Iona (4/5), Kuhn scored with 37 seconds remaining to tie the score and send the game into the extra session before coming through scoring the game-winner in OT.

FRESHMAN FORTITUDE
Ashley Bobinski has been solid all season for the Bobcats as the freshman attack enters the postseason with 31 points (21 goals, 10 assists), ranking second on the team in assists while sitting third in both goals and points. Ashley Bobinski leads the team in shooting percentage as she scores on 53.8 percent of her shot attempts (21 goals, 39 shots). Her offense has been coming on strong of late, entering the playoffs with 11 points (2.75 per game) over the last four games. She tied her season high with five points (four goals, one assist) against Niagara (4/23) in the Bobcats' last game while she has finished with at least one point in 13-of-16 games this season.

SUDDEN SURGE
Moved into more of a goal-scoring position on offense, Ellie Swenson has come through with solid showings since the start of MAAC play. In eight conference games, Swenson posted two points against Monmouth and struck for her first career hat trick at Manhattan to highlight her total of nine points (seven goals, two assists) through eight MAAC games. The nine-point total eclipsed her entire output from her freshman season in 2016 (five points) while she has 13 points (10-3-13) thus far in the 2017 season.

LAST MINUTE MAGIC
Ashley Bobinski's game-winning free position tally with nine seconds left in a 12-11 win at Manhattan (4/1) marked the first time the Bobcats won on a goal in the final minute of play since March 28, 2013 (63 games ago). In that game, Maria Blois scored the game-winner with 10 seconds remaining as the Bobcats defeated Bryant, 16-15.

LEADING THE WAY
Quinnipiac's leading scorer in 2017 Allison Kuhn (24-13-37) has come alive since MAAC play started as she has compiled 25 points (16-9-25) in eight league games. Kuhn went off at Manhattan and matched her career high with five goals while adding one assist for a game-high six points. She also posted six points in a win over Siena (4/19) as she scored three goals and dished out a career high three assists. The 2016 MAAC All-Rookie selection has improved upon her freshman year point total of 27 (19-8-27) by 10 with at least one game still remaining.

DEFENSIVE DYNAMO
One season after leading the MAAC in both caused turnovers and ground balls per game, junior Preseason All-MAAC First Teamer Kiera Kelly is back at it again with her strong one-on-one defensive play. Currently leading the team in ground balls (54) and caused turnovers (39), Kelly leads the MAAC in caused turnovers per game (2.44) and ranks second in ground balls per game (3.38). In her career, Kelly already ranks second all-time at Quinnipiac in caused turnovers (95) while she sits fifth in ground balls (147). Kelly is on-pace to break both program records by the end of her senior season in 2018.

SENIOR MOMENT
Alex Hlesciak played the game of her life against Niagara (4/23) on Senoir Day as the midfielder racked up a career high seven points while matching her season and career high with five goals in a 21-16 loss to the Purple Eagles. Prior to her senior year, Hlesciak tallied a single-game high of two goals on six different occasions. She has since exploded for five goals twice this season, with the first time coming at Fresno State (3/26). Hlesciak leads the Bobcats with 30 goals this season, six more than sophomore Allison Kuhn in second place with 24 through 16 games.

NEW SEASON…NEW TEAM
Trailing by three in the second half, Quinnipiac answered with five straight goals to catapult the Bobcats out front and ultimately to a season-opening 10-9 victory over CCSU (2/18). A resounding come-from-behind victory to open the career of first-year head coach Tanya Kotowicz at Quinnipiac, the victory stands as the first win in a season opener for the Bobcats since defeating UConn, 11-10, all the way back in the 2009 season (seven straight season-opening losses prior to tonight's win). Incredibly, Quinnipiac's win marks just the fourth victory in a season opener in the 19 seasons since joining the NCAA Div. I ranks (1999).

INSTANT IMPACT
Freshman Ashley Bobinski's first career game certainly stands out as one to remember as she scored four goals on four shots to make her the highest-scoring rookie in her debut as a Bobcat in program history. The last rookie to post a hat trick in her debut with Quinnipiac came back in 2012 as Kyra Ochwat tallied three goals against UConn. Bobinski scored three times, securing her hat trick after 17 minutes of play, which she added one more in the second half to give her a team-leading four tallies while igniting the game-deciding 5-0 second half run. Bobinski also had a two-goal, one-assist performance to have a hand in three of Quinnipiac's four goals in a loss at Hofstra (3/18).

Schedule

QU Women's Lacrosse Travels to Marist for MAAC Quarterfinal Matchup on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Bobinski

Julia Corrice

Alex Hlesciak

Kiera Kelly

Allison Kuhn

Kyle Larkin

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