Marist turned in their best all-around performance of the season on Saturday morning, defeating Quinnipiac 17-10 in Hamden before a national TV audience on ESPNU.
The Red Foxes (3-6, 2-1 in the MAAC) had season-highs in goals, assists (10), and shots on goal (31). Marist led 6-5 at the half but outscored the Bobcats 11-5 in the second 30 minutes to earn their second consecutive win.
A big story of today’s game centered around the Faceoff X. The matchup was Marist freshman Dylan Bedell against Quinnipiac senior Demitri George, who ranks 9th in the NCAA in Faceoff Percentage. You can’t say enough about the freshman Bedell, who had the best game of his young career winning 17 out of 30 faceoffs today.
The goalie matchup was another must-watch, with two seniors in Anthony Novellano for the Red Foxes and Nick Dimuccio for the Bobcats. Novellano came into the game ranking 5th in saves per game among all NCAA Division 1 goalies.
The matchup would not disappoint as Novellano had 12 saves and Dimuccio had 14 saves in today’s contest.
The first goal of the game belonged to junior attackmen Jake Tellers as he got the Bobcats on the board one minute and thirty seconds into the game.
Thirty-four seconds later senior attackman JoJo Pirreca scores making the game even. Pirreca looks to stay hot for the Red Foxes after last week’s five-point game, including a game-winning goal last weekend against Siena.
In the next possession, senior midfielder Jason Intermesoli took advantage of the short stick at the X, and beat Dimuccio for the goal, making it a 2-1 Red Fox lead.
The first quarter was all Marist as senior midfielder James Lyons scored on Dimuccio to make the lead 3-1 Marist with three minutes left in the period. That was not the last of the scoring for the Red Foxes as junior midfielder Stephen Bickell scored his second goal in two games making it a 4-1.
It was only a matter of time before George tried to take over this game as he won the faceoff against Bedell and scored, beating Novellano with two seconds left in the first quarter, making the score 4-2 Marist.
To start the second quarter, Quinnipiac sophomore Dylan Donnery, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year, scored to cut it to 4-3.
It wouldn’t be long until Marist answered back the next possession Intermesoli scored as he had a short stick matchup again at X, which was his bread and butter to that point in the game, making it a 5-3 Marist lead.
The Bobcats came up with two goals to tie it at 5, but senior midfielder Hunter Embury dodged with his off-hand and sniped it past Dimuccio making it a 6-5 game, which concluded the scoring of the first half.
It didn’t take long for Marist to score again, as the man-up opportunity carried over to the third quarter. Pirreca stung it past Dimuccio nine seconds into the third quarter making it a 7-5 Marist lead.
On the next possession, Intermesoli keeps his head up and finds freshman attackman Jake Deacy scored on a wide-open crease shot making it an 8-5 Marist advantage and three consecutive goals.
Marist started to pour it on, with Embury and Bickell each scoring to make it 10-5 in favor of the visitors.
Quinnipiac answered off a feed from Senior Midfielder Will Abbott and found Teller to cut the lead down to four.
Red Foxes would score on the next possession as Pirreca scored his third off the game on a rocket of a shot from range making it an 11-6 game. Senior Midfielder Matt Miller would answer the Red Foxes scoring off a possession that the Bobcats needed to get back into the game, taking the lead 11-7 Marist.
Off a beautiful save from Novellano Marist looked to push the tempo as Deacy with an amazing behind-the-back finish. The Marist bench was fired up as the lead was 12-7 Marist.
The Bobcats would not go away as the Graduate Student Defender Matt Di Lella ran the full length of the field beating Novellano off stick high for the goal for a 12-8 score.
Junior attackman Kellen Pulera put his name on the stat sheet, scoring his first goal of the game on a man-up opportunity, blowing the game wide open 13-8. Marist had six goals all in the first half, they scored seven goals in the third quarter alone.
Marist knew coming into the fourth quarter the Bobcats wouldn’t go away as Quinnipiac sophomore midfielder Steven Germain made it a 13-9 game.
Marist would not allow the Bobcats to claw their way back into the game as Pulera scored another goal making it a five-goal lead for Marist, 14-9. Pirreca scored his fourth of the game making it a six-goal Marist lead.
You cannot say enough about Pirreca’s ability to be a quarterback for this team, getting his sixth point of the game by finding Pulera wide open on the crease. Wrapping up the scoring for the Red Foxes, Pulera would score his fourth of the game, all in the second half.
Things started clicking as Marist would have their best game of the season in all aspects of the game. Especially on the defensive side of the ball, ending the game caused turnovers which allowed Marist to get fastbreak opportunities, which led to goals. Senior Long Stick Midfielder JT Roselle and Senior Long Stick Midfielder Anthony Filleppetti led the team in that category with two caused turnovers each for the Foxes.
Marist has a quick turnaround as they will next be in action against a top-five team in Princeton this Tuesday, April 5th at 7 pm at Princeton, NJ.
Edited by Jonathan Kinane
Photo from Marist Athletics