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  • Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey stumbles in playoffs again – what went wrong?

    By Kaitlyn Grady, Tyler Platz and Mike King

    For the second season in a row, the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, with its ECAC Tournament run ending in the three-game quarterfinal series against Clarkson. 

    Despite strong defensive play, the Bobcats’ offense struggled to keep up with opponents throughout the season, culminating in another disappointing playoff performance. With key contributors departing this offseason, questions loom as this team looks ahead to the 2025-26 season.

    Putting points on the board

    A major issue for the 2024-25 Bobcats was their scoring, or lack thereof. In games where opponents scored at least two goals, not once were the Bobcats able to come out on top. That stat would be less pressing if they were getting blown out, but failing to score more than two goals consistently is a problem. 

    There’s nothing wrong with playing a defensive game, but when a team can’t match its opponent’s scoring output, that spells trouble. That trouble caught up with them and is one of the main reasons the Bobcats are watching the NCAA Tournament from home.

    Last season, after an Oct. 20 1-0 victory over Brown, Turner recognized the lack of production early in the season and highlighted the need to “score early.”

    “They want to get the first goal of the game, that is huge for them and it’s something that they talk about,” Turner said. “The more you think about scoring, the less you’re going to score. It’s about pulling the pieces together that are going to help us create scoring chances and building from one to the next.”

    This message seemed to resonate with the team last year, but not so much this time around.

    Heavy reliance on the defensive side of the game

    The Bobcats’ strength was its defense. They relied on winning low scoring games and had trouble against some of the top scoring teams. The Bobcats ranked 14th in the nation in goals scored on the season with 97, and ranked eighth in the ECAC. This is a stark contrast from last season, where the Bobcats finished sixth in the nation with 134 goals scored, almost 40 goals more than they were able to put in the back of the net this season. This is also the fewest goals they have scored in a season since the 2018 season, where they scored 73. However, Colgate, Cornell, Princeton and Clarkson all ranked ahead of the Bobcats in goals scored this season. The Bobcats’ combined record against these teams was 2-7-1. 

    The Bobcats struggled to beat teams that score more efficiently than they do, always having to rely on their defense to win. One area where the Bobcats excelled this season was on the penalty kill. The Bobcats ranked fourth in the country in penalty kill percentage. However, they only ranked 27th on power play percentage this season.

    Playoff woes continue under Cassandra Turner

    Once again Quinnipiac fell short of winning the ECAC tournament. For the second straight season, Quinnipiac women’s hockey had their season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament. The Bobcats’ loss to Clarkson in the quarterfinals ended their season. They likely needed to win the ECAC tournament to get in or have a close loss in the finals to qualify because of how they struggled against top teams this season.

    With their season coming to an end, a hard internal look at the program must take place to understand how the Bobcats can improve from here. Head coach Cassanda Turner has been behind the bench for 10 seasons. In those 10 seasons, Turner has led the Bobcats to multiple NCAA tournament appearances, but has also been at the helm during many seasons where the Bobcats could not win big games. The Bobcats have yet to reach the Frozen Four under Turner, and as they look ahead to next season, timely wins will certainly be an emphasis again for Turner and the Bobcats. 

    What’s next?

    With four of Quinnipiac’s top five point-getters set to graduate (Maya Labad – 27 points, Kendall Cooper – 26, Maddy Samoskevich – 22 and Jenna Donohue – 19),  Quinnipiac will look to fill those spots around sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche, who led the team with 14 goals and 19 assists this season. 

    A potential suitor to take on a bigger role in the points department is freshman forward Bryn Prier. She finished this season with eight goals and eight assists as well as a +16 plus-minus. In a Feb. 14 game against RPI, Prier had a hat trick and an assist on a Lamarche goal, culminating in a four point night. If Prier and Lamarche develop strong chemistry, it might suit the Bobcats well to pair them on a line moving forward into next season.

    Alongside her, expect first-year defenseman Makayla Watson to contribute more to the offense next season. She finished the campaign tied for third on the team in assists with 12. With Watson, who suited up in all 38 games this season, able to grow into a bigger role for next winter, expect her to increase her numbers as she’s able to freely dish the puck to her teammates.

    Besides point production, the other area of this team with underclassmen waiting in the wings is goaltending. With graduate Kaley Doyle’s departure, freshman Felicia Frank will likely get the nod in net next season. In limited appearances between the pipes in 2024-25, Frank showed that she can hold the back end down in the form of four shutouts. 

    If it isn’t Frank, Quinnipiac will have to look to find a more polished and experienced netminder in the transfer portal. In recent history, the Bobcats have favored an older goaltender to lead the team, with Doyle and former Quinnipiac goalies Logan Angers and Corrine Schroeder being examples of this. 

    The defensive side of Quinnipiac’s team is overshadowed by the lack of offense, but both will have to improve in the 2025-26 season if the Bobcats hope to compete with more balanced teams in the regular season. 

    Since the 2021-22 season, it has consistently finished in the top five of the conference – including fourth in 2022, third in 2023 and fifth in 2024 and 2025 – but have yet to translate that success into a deep postseason run. Overcoming that will be a determining factor in the Bobcats pushing themselves over the top in search of an ECAC championship.

    “We’re going to continue to dive in and stay in the fight and be in a position where you look to figure our best hockey at the end of the season,” Turner said.

  • Five takeaways from Quinnipiac-Clarkson, ECAC quarterfinals series

    Five takeaways from Quinnipiac-Clarkson, ECAC quarterfinals series

    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.

  • Quinnipiac baseball schedule breakdown: Six series to watch out for in 2025

    Quinnipiac baseball schedule breakdown: Six series to watch out for in 2025

    Last year, optimism spilled from the locker room of the 2024 Quinnipiac baseball team, which had been voted to finish No. 2 in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll. All foretold a promising season. Instead, the team subsequently went 20-30, finished eighth in the MAAC and missed the postseason tournament entirely. 

    Now, a clean slate presents itself. The Bobcats will play 53 games in 2025, giving them 53 opportunities to find the magic that could bring the program its first MAAC championship since 2019. They were selected to finish No. 4 this season, naming one player, outfielder CJ Willis, to the preseason All-MAAC Team. 

    With the season looming, we will break down six key matchups inside Quinnipiac’s 2025 schedule, analyzing the implications each one could have on the Bobcats’ season. 

    No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs 

    Feb. 14 (12 p.m.) and Feb. 15 (12 p.m.) – Wilmington, North Carolina

    Quinnipiac will play four games in three days to start its season, traveling to Wilmington to play No. 8 Georgia and UNC Wilmington twice each. The Bulldogs specifically will be quite a difficult matchup for the Bobcats, who have not beaten a nationally-ranked opponent since their 2019 season that ended in a MAAC championship. Quinnipiac scored eight runs Feb. 23 to hand then-No. 20 ranked Wake Forest a loss.

    Georgia finished 2024 with a 43-17 record, making a run all the way to an NCAA Tournament’s Super Regional, the equivalent of a quarterfinal round. The Bobcats may be outmatched against a high-profile opponent, but it will be a good opportunity nonetheless to see how the team competes against notable competition. It is also a good opportunity to see how the team will line up on the diamond. Quinnipiac had some serious roster turnover from 2024 to 2025, losing 21 players from last year including a handful of top starters like catcher Keegan O’Connor, center fielder Jared Zimbardo and designated hitter/first baseman Sean Swenson. 

    The stakes for these two games are low, but a commendable performance from Quinnipiac could wash away the bad taste of last season’s underperformance and set the tone for 2025. Georgia will be one of the best teams — if not the best — the Bobcats play this year and it will be fun to watch the Bobcats match up against a Power 5 roster If Quinnipiac can show some signs of life against one of the SEC’s best, it could be a positive sign of things to come later in the season. 

    – Zachary Carter

    Iona Gaels 

    March 7 (3 p.m.), March 8 (2 p.m.), March 9 (1 p.m.) – Hamden

    Jumping ahead to the weekend of March 7, the Bobcats return to Hamden, squaring off against the Iona Gaels in a three-game clash, their first series in MAAC play in the 2025 season. Iona finished with an underwhelming 12-38 record last spring, giving the Bobcats a chance to take an early advantage in conference standings.

    In 2024, Quinnipiac won all three games against Iona, scoring 27 runs in as many innings. Throughout 50 contests, the Gaels had the third-highest earned run average in the MAAC, allowing close to eight earned runs per nine innings. Additionally, they ranked No. 4 total earned runs allowed and No. 2 in walks. To take advantage of this, veteran players like graduate first baseman Sebastian Mueller need to keep the offense hot. Although he only appeared in 11 games, Mueller is coming off his best season at the plate, hitting .357 in 2024 and is poised to improve again as he steadily has in his four years in Hamden. 

    When they met Iona in 2024,, the Bobcats had a 6-18 record.  Their sweep of the Gaels allowed them to finish the season on a good note, going 14-12 to end the campaign. If the Bobcats can get out on the right foot against a conference opponent, history could repeat itself for Quinnipiac, allowing it to go on another positive run as they approach other MAAC foes like Rider and Marist to wrap up March.

    – Michael King

    UConn Huskies 

    April 1(3 p.m.) – Storrs

    April 1 marks the first meeting between these two in-state rivals since 2017. The all-time series between Quinnipiac and UConn is a bit lopsided, with the Huskies taking 12 of 17 games and winning the last seven. But, much like Georgia, UConn will be a good gauge for Quinnipiac to assess where the team is at around the halfway mark of the season. 

    The Huskies are typically one of the nation’s best teams. They’re the favorites to win the Big East this year and are a staple in NCAA postseason play, having appeared in the NCAA tournament every year since 2018 (minus the canceled COVID season in 2020). With this game being played midweek, the Bobcats won’t have to face one of UConn’s top starters. Stealing a win in Storrs could ignite a strong push in the back half of MAAC play and give the Bobcats the confidence they might need to make a late-season push.

    – Zachary Carter 

    Niagara Purple Eagles 

    April 4 (3 p.m.), April 5 (2 p.m.), April 6 (12 p.m.) – Lewiston, New York

    Three days after Quinnipiac challenges UConn, the Bobcats will travel to western New York for a three game weekend series with Niagara. If the Bobcats can pull off an upset win in Storrs, they could ride into this series with some serious momentum against a formidable conference opponent.

    The Purple Eagles, 2024’s MAAC champions, come in at sixth place in the preseason coaches poll. They saw two of their best players from the previous season leave for the MLB draft, with junior first baseman Eric Rataczak and sophomore pitcher Ryan Minckler being drafted by the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals, respectively. Rataczak had one of the best seasons in Niagara history last season, leading the MAAC in batting average (.396), OPS (1.183), RBI (71) and OBP (.485).

    Without these players for the spring season, Quinnipiac matches up much more favorably this time around. 

    Last time around, Rataczak had three hits, two RBI and drew five walks in a three-game sweep of Quinnipiac at home. A series win in the early stages of the second half of the season could provide some crucial fuel to the fire if the Bobcats want to go on a hot run down the stretch in MAAC play.

    – Michael King

    Merrimack Warriors

    April 11 (3 p.m.), April 12 (1 p.m.), April 13 (1 p.m.) – Hamden

    2025 is the inaugural season for Merrimack in the MAAC. They’re not projected to have a stellar year — voted to finish just ninth in the preseason coaches poll — but they’ll play the Bobcats in a mid-April series that could spell trouble if Quinnipiac does not approach the three games with caution. 

    Quinnipiac is a team that has not played well on the road in recent years. Dating back to 2020, the Bobcats are 32-91 in the past five seasons when playing games away from Hamden. Coming into this Merrimack series, they will have played five straight games on the road against two state schools in UConn and URI, bracketed by a three-game series against the defending MAAC champion Niagara Purple Eagles.

    If the Bobcats might hit a skid at any point in the season, here makes the most sense.

    Head coach John Delaney and his team will have to take advantage of what should be a struggling Warriors squad and take care of business when Quinnipiac might need a series win the most. The Bobcats and Warriors have met three times in the two programs’ histories, all of which came last year. Quinnipiac beat Merrimack both at home and on the road, including an impressive 21-3 win in early March. 

    – Zachary Carter

    Sacred Heart Pioneers  

    May 15 (3 p.m.), May 16 (1 p.m.), May 17 (1 p.m.) – Fairfield

    The Bobcats finish their regular season with a three three-game  MAAC series. The final opponent of that stretch is Sacred Heart, a newcomer to the MAAC. With a respectable 35-23 record in 2024, the Pioneers are looking to make some noise in a brand new setting. The Bobcats and Pioneers have a 51-game history, with Sacred Heart narrowly in front in the all-time matchup at 27-24. 

    Once again, the inability to consistently win on the road over the past five years could be a major hill to climb, so Quinnipiac will need to be extra focused if it wants to extend its season. A repeat of last spring, which saw the Bobcats finish 3-7 in their final ten contests, would be detrimental with teams like Canisius and Mount St. Mary’s looming for a playoff berth.

    Depending on how the Bobcats handle earlier opponents this season, this final series could be a make-or-break for them if they want to be a disruptor in the postseason. 

    – Michael King

  • A young team finding its footing

    A young team finding its footing

    By: Brandon Murdock and Tyler Platz

    When you think of the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team, you typically think of a team full of veterans. They build a core and keep them together for years, often touted as a part of the reason they won the national championship in 2023.

    The 2024-25 team is a different story, as following 14 players leaving the program last season, this team is now full of younger players. The roster now includes 16 total underclassmen, including nine freshmen. 

    The lack of experience leads to growing pains, which Quinnipiac has had its share of this season.

    Following their 3-0 loss to ECAC rival Harvard on Nov. 9, the young squad fell to 3-5, something this program has not seen in years.

    Something Rand Pecknold spoke about for the majority of that rough patch, was the team needing to mature and buy-in.

    “It’s a great group of guys,” head coach Rand Pecknold said following an early season loss to Dartmouth. “We will buy in at some point.”

    Fast forward to February and it looks like this young team is starting to do just that. Following their worst loss of the season, a 5-1 defeat at home to Northeastern, the Bobcats have gone 7-2-1 with their losses coming to UConn, a near-NCAA Tournament lock and Clarkson, an ECAC squad on the tournament bubble. 

    This team has learned how to battle back, a self-imposed struggle given their inability to score first this season. Over the past month, they have only scored the opening goal twice. A young team has learned to grow up a bit, constantly needing to come back, with three come-from-behind wins in that span.

    Something like that does not come out of nowhere, it comes from leadership and the player that has stepped up the most is sophomore leading point scorer, Mason Marcellus. 

    He scored the opening goal in Friday night’s win against St. Lawrence and had three points inside the first 10 minutes of the game. 

    “With everyone leaving, I’m kind of a little louder in the locker room,” said Marcellus. “Especially playing with two freshmen, I think I’m a little louder on the bench.” 

    Marcellus finds himself on a line with first-year forward Chris Pelosi and has found ways to make him feel more comfortable in Hamden.

    “He teaches me after every shift,” said Pelosi. “I couldn’t thank him more and he just makes me better every single day.”

    Despite a quick start against St. Lawrence on Friday, Quinnipiac again fell behind early in the 3-2 overtime loss to Clarkson the following day. However, a sign of the team’s maturation came in how they responded when trailing.

    After giving up the opening goal eight minutes into the game, the Bobcats answered with goals from Pelosi and junior forward Victor Czerneckianair in just under two minutes to regain the early lead before ultimately falling in overtime.

    “You just got to put it away,” assistant coach Rick Bennett said. “It was just a hard fought game tonight, just did not go our way and sometimes that’s hockey.”

    While the team is starting to come together and play some of its best hockey, they still have a bit of an upward hill to climb. Despite being first in the ECAC hockey standings, some tough losses at the beginning of the season has the team on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament. 

    In order for the Bobcats to give themselves the best chance to make the tournament, this young group will need to avenge some old demons and take care of business in the ECAC Tournament up in Lake Placid.

    The Bobcats will be back in action on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. when they take on Union on the road.