By Tyler Platz
Quinnipiac’s postseason run ended after dropping the latter two games of its three-game series against Clarkson in the ECAC quarterfinals, falling 2-1 and 4-1. The Bobcats opened the series strong in Game 1, holding the Golden Knights to a single goal. But in Games 2 and 3, they couldn’t overcome the Golden Knights’ adjustments. Looking both at the series and the future, here are five takeaways from the matchup.
Special teams battle
The matchup between the Bobcats and Golden Knights’ special teams in this series was highlighted before the opening faceoff of Game 1. The Golden Knights have the ECAC’s top power-play percentage, converting around 34% of the time. The Bobcats’ penalty kill is one of the conference’s best units, successfully killing penalties 88.6% of the time.
Playing to their strength, the Bobcats set the tone early in this playoff series. The wingers were able to shut down Clarkson’s top defensive pairing in senior Haley Winn and graduate Nicole Gosling on the penalty kill in Game 1, not allowing many shots to get through.
However, as the series progressed, Clarkson’s special teams improved, while Quinnipiac’s did the opposite.
”There were some moments this weekend where maybe we didn’t have our best stuff, and Quinnipiac was coming at us pretty good,” Matt Desrosiers, Clarkson head coach, said. “But we kind of hung in there.”
In Game 2, while struggling to clear the defensive zone, freshman defenseman Makayla Watson took a body-checking penalty, giving the Golden Knights their first power-play opportunity. Gosling was able to break the seal, beating graduate goaltender Kaley Doyle high to even the score at one.
In Game 3, the Bobcats once again fell victim to the Golden Knights’ top special teams unit. Nearing the end of the second period, graduate forward Sophie Urban was called for body-checking.
The Golden Knights capitalized when their power-play box squeezed the Bobcats’ penalty killers in tight to the net before junior forward Rhea Hicks was left open at the far post, where she scored on a one-timer, putting Clarkson up 2-0.
Is Felicia Frank heir apparent?
This season, Quinnipiac relied on its strong defensive play, with Doyle’s performance in net acting as the anchor. Her conference-leading .945 save percentage and eight shutouts kept the Bobcats in many games, but the offense often couldn’t keep up, leaving the defense as the team’s strongest asset.
With Doyle graduating, all eyes now turn to freshman goaltender Felicia Frank. In 10 games this season, Frank posted a .947 save percentage and four shutouts, earning seven wins.
After her first collegiate start last season, where she earned her first shutout, Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner praised Frank’s confidence.
“She played for the Swedish national team and stood on her head against Team USA,” Turner said. “And for her to have had games like that in her past, she has confidence in big ways.”
While she hasn’t yet built the same extensive resume as Doyle, the Bobcats will need Frank to step up next season, especially with offensive struggles ahead.
Defense can’t carry the load
Quinnipiac’s defense was crucial throughout the season, but it wasn’t enough to carry the team when its offense went dormant. In 2024-25, the Bobcats failed to win a single game in which opponents scored two or more goals, a pattern that continued in their ECAC quarterfinal series against Clarkson.
After opening the series with a strong 3-1 showing in Game 1, the Bobcats struggled defensively in the next two games, allowing two goals in Game 2 and four goals in Game 3, ultimately ending their chance for a conference championship..
While the defense and solid goaltending kept Quinnipiac competitive enough to secure the No. 5 seed in the ECAC, the lack of offensive production ultimately proved costly. Teams at the top of the standings, like Cornell and Colgate, have a well-rounded game that allows them to excel both offensively and defensively. Moving forward, Quinnipiac will need to adopt a more balanced approach to compete with these higher-seeded teams.
Scoring void ahead
Sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche led Quinnipiac in points this season with 33. However, the other top four Bobcats in points — senior forward Maya Labad (27), graduate defensemen Kendall Cooper (26) and Maddy Samoskevich (22) and forward Jenna Donohue (19) — will all graduate this year.
This leaves a significant challenge in replacing much of this team’s offensive production. While there’s a possibility Labad may return as a graduate student, the team will still have to address the significant void left in an already low-scoring offense, which ranked No. 5 in the ECAC and No. 14 nationally in goals scored.
Regular season power, postseason puzzle
Since Turner was named head coach in 2015, the Bobcats have consistently excelled in the regular season, compiling four 20-win seasons and three 30-win seasons while routinely punching their ticket to the ECAC tournament.
However, postseason success has largely eluded Turner’s teams. The Bobcats have faced tough losses in the ECAC quarterfinals six times and the semifinals three times, unable to make a deep run despite strong regular seasons.
The outlier was in Turner’s first year as head coach during the 2015-16 season, when the Bobcats swept RPI in the quarterfinals and defeated St. Lawrence in the semifinals, before outlasting Clarkson 1-0 to win the program’s first and only ECAC Championship.
After once again dropping the best-of-three quarterfinal series to Clarkson this weekend, Turner continues to search for another breakthrough postseason, aiming to replicate the championship run in her first year. With a bid to the NCAA Tournament still a possibility, depending on how the cards fall, Turner and the Bobcats have an opportunity to change this narrative with some signs of life in the tournament.
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