Above, We Shot the Moon performs “A Silver Lining” during Sunday’s concert.

The members of We Shot the Moon don’t take themselves too seriously, and they will be the first ones to tell you.

Formed as the Honor Roll when lead vocalist and pianist Jonathan Jones’ band Waking Ashland split up, the San Diego quartet renamed themselves We Shot the Moon in 2007.

“It’s a reference to the card game Hearts,” Jones said. “We wanted to call our band Shoot the Moon, but there was a band that had the name Shoot the Moon at the time.”

We Shot the Moon has a funky sense of style and carry themselves well. They have no pretense. They are who they are.

The band characterizes their music as pop and rock with influences from Jimmy Eat World, Jack’s Mannequin and The Fray.

“I grew up listening to country,” drummer Trevor Faris said. “I really liked No Doubt, Led Zeppelin and The Police. I guess No Doubt is kind of the oddball there, but they were my favorite band in school at the time.”

Listen to We Shot the Moon live and one will see the Californian sensibilities that shot Gwen Stefani and company to worldwide acclaim. Songs from their latest album, “A Silver Lining” like “The Bright Side” or “Miracle” are perfect for Top 40 radio and should be storming up the charts.

Unfortunately for the band, touring has been difficult the last few months after their trailer was wrecked last November. The band considers this one of the greatest challenges they have faced thus far.

“It was a financial burden that has made it difficult to continue touring the way we used to,” guitarist Jason De La Torre said.

Jones adds that the band cannot perform every day anymore. In the past, the band would be on the road between 200 to 250 days of the year or more, but now they only perform a few days in any given month.

“For the hand that has been dealt to us, what we’ve been dealing with, we have been playing really nicely,” Jones said. “It was a terrible thing that happened to our band, but it opened some other doors.”

Despite any and all hardships, We Shot the Moon has a refreshing and relaxed demeanor with entertaining sense of humor that makes them cool to be around.

Minutes away from opening for Grammy-nominated band The Fray, We Shot the Moon appeared cool and collected.

“[The Fray] is a band that I personally listen to, so that’s kind of cool,” Jones said. “I can’t say that every night when we play on the road.”

We Shot the Moon playfully jokes around and seemingly know how to have a good time, but it is all business when it comes to the performance.

“When we are on stage we take ourselves very seriously,” Jones said. “We want to make sure we sound the best that we can sound. We want to make sure everyone in the crowd is engaged in our show.”

Quinnipiac women’s tennis backed an impressive performance against No. 37 Yale with a 7-0 sweep of Holy Cross on Saturday.

“I think we did well yesterday,” Quinnipiac head coach Mike Quitko said. “We played an incredibly good team and I think we put it together and did what we had to do today.”

The sun was shining as play began with a set of doubles matches in the early afternoon. The team of Mary Wilson and Adrienne Markison ran through their match to an 8-1 victory in front of a strong Quinnipiac crowd. Quinnipiac’s second doubles team, Rachel Cantor and Sarah Viebrock, had their Holy Cross opponents on the run all match as they closed with an 8-2 win.

The third doubles team for Quinnipiac, featuring Natalie Duckor and Shawna Sarson, fell behind early 3-2, but had the support of their team cheering them on at the end. The entire Bobcat squad was on the court cheering for Duckor and Sarson, and they responded by reeling off six straight games to win 8-3.

With the defeat, Holy Cross fell to 2-6 for the year as Quinnipiac moved to 6-3. Despite losing 7-0 to Yale on Friday, Coach Quitko called it one of the most impressive performances thus far and expected a tough match from the Crusaders.

“Holy Cross got a lot of balls back and played real tough,” Quitko said. “They made us earn it and I think we did.”

In singles action, the No. 1 singles match had Wilson squaring off against Kristen Meahl. Wilson, a senior, started out strong with a break and a quick 2-0 lead. Meahl’s serve started to force some errors in the third game and the two began trading games back and forth. Wilson began to adjust her game and picked her spots well. Instead of going for the winner early in the rally, Wilson used more top spin and lob shots which gave Meahl trouble. As Meahl backtracked during the rally, Wilson set up for a smash ace and took control of the match. Up 5-3, Wilson put the set away on the back of her serve and finished ahead 6-3.

In the second set, Wilson and Meahl battled early on, but Wilson got her power serve on track and won the match decidedly. Up 2-1, Wilson smoked a winner cross court to take the game and followed with an uncontested break off Meahl’s serve. Three devastating serves down the middle gave Wilson three easy points and a forehand winner to her left gave her the game. Wilson won on three deep forehands that forced Meahl’s forehand into the net and resulted in a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Quinnipiac posted strong showings in the remaining five singles matches. Cantor posted her second victory with a clean sweep 6-0, 6-0. Markison defeated Emily Marr 6-1, 6-0 and Viebrock also won her second match of the game. Duckor won her single match and the second of the day, 6-3, and 6-1. Lisanne Steinert won her only match 6-3, 6-1.

The Bobcats will take on Bryant on March 28 in their next match as they look to make it two victories in a row.

“We have to keep getting tougher and keep getting patient,” Quitko said. “And not let one mistake turn into six mistakes. Just let one mistake be one mistake and move on. I didn’t see it a lot today which is very encouraging.”

• Box score

For the second straight season, the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey season ended in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Hockey Tournament. Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Union ended the Bobcats’ dream of being conference champions.

“We had some good chances,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Unfortunately, we had zero power plays. We weren’t allowed to utilize that tonight. I’m proud of my team – I thought our seniors played great. We dressed 11 freshmen tonight and came a goal from the final four teams in the league.”

The Dutchmen scored early and never looked backed. Wayne Simpson’s one-timer from the faceoff dot beat sophomore goaltender Dan Clarke two minutes into the game. Union added to its lead a little over a minute into the third period, which proved to be the difference in the game.

That was enough for Dutchmen netminder Corey Milan, who stopped 30 shots to secure the victory. Clarke finished with 33 saves, and averaged 44 for the series thanks to his tournament record 73 saves on Friday.

“I thought Dan Clarke was good tonight,” Pecknold said. “I give Union a lot of credit, and Corey Milan was great.”

Reese Rolheiser gave the Bobcats life when he redirected Jeremy Langlois’ shot into the net to cut the lead in half with less than five minutes to play. But Milan stoned the Bobcats the rest of the way and preserved the Dutchmen’s win that advances them to the ECAC Hockey Semifinals.

The Bobcats finished the season with a record of 20-18-2 and 14-13 in ECAC play.

• Box score

After defeating Union in five overtimes Friday night, Quinnipiac was looking to punch its ticket to the ECAC Hockey Semifinals with a win Saturday night. Instead, the Bobcats fell to the Dutchmen, 3-1, and will play in another decisive Game 3 on Sunday.

“We were exhausted,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Both teams were. An event like a five-overtime game will do that, but you have to be ready to battle. I think that Union did a better job of that tonight.”

It took Quinnipiac three games to dispose of Dartmouth last weekend, so the Bobcats’ endurance will be tested once again.

Adam Presizniuk led the way for the Dutchmen with two goals. Presizniuk’s first goal came on a power play just less than six minutes into the first to give Union a 1-0 lead, ending Bobcat goalie Dan Clarke’s shutout streak at 145 minutes 41 seconds. The streak is the third longest in Quinnipiac’s Division 1 history.

The Bobcats tied the game with just less than three minutes left in the first on Brandon Wong’s tip in. Greg Holt fired a shot from the point that Wong redirected past Dutchmen goalie Corey Milan. But it was the only one Milan let through. The Bobcats continued to have chances to score but Milan let nothing through.

With two and a half minutes left in the first, the Dutchmen took the lead for good on a goal by Luke Cain. Presizniuk scored his second of the game 1:17 into the third. His breakaway goal sealed the win, with Milan stopping everything the Bobcats shot at him.

The Bobcats and Dutchmen conclude their best-of-3 series with the deciding game Sunday at 7 p.m. in Schenectady, N.Y.

• Box score

It was a record-setting night for the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team in its 3-2 win over Union in the first game of a best-of-3 series. The game (150 minutes, 22 seconds) is the longest in NCAA history, while Dan Clarke set both Quinnipiac and ECAC Hockey Tournament records for saves with 73.

It took until the middle of the fifth overtime for the Bobcats to get the game-winner past Union goalie Keith Kinkaid. Senior forward Greg Holt gathered the puck behind Union’s net, stepped in front and fired to beat Kinkaid.

“From a competitive standpoint, my guys really wanted it,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold told timesunion.com. “This is new territory for us. We will see what happens. It’s one thing to win in one overtime, it’s quite another to win in five. My guys are pretty jacked right now. But they are absolutely beyond exhaustion — but I think Union is, too.”

Union got the scoring started just over seven minutes into the first period. Stephane Boileau stole the puck and fired a shot that beat Clarke. Union expanded its lead to 2-0 three minutes later when Mario Valery-Trabucco scored a power-play goal.

Clarke shut out the Dutchmen for the next 140 minutes, 40 seconds and gave the Bobcats the chance they needed to come back.

The Bobcats cut the lead in half when senior forward Scott Zurevinski blasted a shot from the point that beat Kinkaid stick side with 6:59 left in the first period. Freshman forward Jeremy Langlois tied the game at 2 just over a minute into the second period. Langlois received a centering pass from Holt and buried his shot in the back of the net.

The Bobcats and Dutchmen played another five and a half periods before Holt netted the game-winner.

Union will fight to keep its season going tonight at 7 in Schenectady, N.Y.

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When Quinnipiac senior guard James Feldeine came around Jonathan Cruz’s screen near the high post and received a pass from point guard James Johnson with 10 seconds left and his team down by two, he held his and the Bobcats’ dreams of making the big dance in his hands.

“Every time it leaves my hand, I’m saying to myself, ‘It’s going in,’ ” said Feldeine, who made the same shot on the same play to give the Bobcats a 36-34 lead earlier in the second half.

But this time it didn’t go down. And the Robert Morris Colonials defeated the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team, 52-50, on Wednesday night in front of an all-time high 3,607 fans at the TD Bank Sports Center and an ESPN2 audience.

“I thought it was a foul,” Feldeine said after wiping tears from his eyes in the postgame news conference. “It wasn’t a foul; it was good defense by Dallas Green.”

Green, who made the game-winning shot in last year’s NEC Championship game, said his team expected Feldeine or Rutty to take the final shot.

“Luckily they didn’t call a foul,” he said.

Green was fouled three seconds later and made both free throws to seal Quinnipiac’s fate and silence the student section. Johnson hustled down the floor and drained two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the basket. Colonial guard Karon Abraham, the unanimous NEC Rookie of the Year and the tournament’s most valuable player, missed two free throws to give Johnson and the Bobcats a chance at a game-winning, half-court shot.

But it didn’t go down.

“I wanted to go out on top,” Feldeine said. “I just told my team, these are my brothers. We fought through so much. Nobody out there thought we’d be here. I wanted this for our team, Coach Moore, for everybody.”

The loss was Quinnipiac’s first at home this season. Robert Morris captured its seventh NEC title, adding to its league-high, and are 7-2 all-time in NEC championship games. The Colonials also became the first team to repeat as NEC champions since Rider University won it all in 1993 and 1994.

“There wasn’t a moment in the game where you could take a breath,” Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice said. “This was a battle from the first minute to the last minute.”

NEC Defensive Player of the Year Mezie Nwigwe helped Robert Morris (23-11, 15-3 NEC) become the second team all season to outrebound the Bobcats (23-9, 15-3 NEC), 35-34.

“They played an absolutely incredible defensive basketball game tonight,” Moore said. “To hold us in this gym and this atmosphere to six field goals in the second half and 35-percent shooting for the game is a phenomenal defensive accomplishment.”

Photo credits: Al Valerio

Along with every Bobcat basket and Colonial miss came a loud roar from the standing student section. When junior guard Deontay Twyman nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to give Quinnipiac a 46-45 lead with 3:24 remaining, the crowd had never been louder.

“I thought we battled really with our grit, with our heart, and our emotion and tried to play off the crowd as much as we could,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “I thought right until inside of a minute we’d win the game.”

Green was fouled on the next play and he tied the game up when he made his second free throw. Velton Jones sank a floater in the lane with 1:18 left gave Robert Morris the lead for good.

Jones had four of his team’s 13 steals compared to Quinnipiac’s six for the game. The Colonial defense stalled Feldeine at 17 points for the final 10 minutes and held NEC Player of the Year Justin Rutty to 12 points.

“I think it was just a battle between two teams that love to play defense, preach defense every day of practice,” Feldeine said. “It showed that defense wins games, defense wins championships.”

Though, Rutty did collect his seventh consecutive double-double with 10 boards, five coming on the offensive glass.

Robert Morris will play in the NCAA Tournament late next week, while Quinnipiac will play in the National Invitation Tournament.

Quinnipiac went on an 11-0 run to give them a 15-10 lead early in the game, taking the lead on Rutty’s and-1 play with 8:27 remaining. The Bobcats didn’t relinquish the lead until Abraham tied it up to start the second half.

“I was hopeful all game that we would pop a 10-2 run off some transition hoops,” Moore said. “I also thought we’d make a few more open shots to give us a little separation. They can really, really wear you down defensively.”

Quinnipiac did its part to manage Robert Morris’ offense by holding the Colonials to a season-low 52 points. One of the main cogs for Quinnipiac’s defense is senior captain Jeremy Baker, who substituted in and out of the lineup frequently down the stretch and took a pivotal charge with 5:12 remaining.

“Jeremy’s leadership is off the charts,” Moore said. “His toughness is off the charts. We’ll miss him dearly on so many levels next year. It doesn’t surprise me he took the charge. He’s got a competitive will that’s as big as any kid I’ve ever been around.”

Although the loss led to a sobbing Quinnipiac bench, the program has the future lined up after earning its first regular-season crown and winning the most games ever in team history.

“I felt we were going to win the game all night,” Moore said. “Last year we built a ton of character. I thought that set up this year. We’re hoping tonight will set up next year. That’s our hope. It’s building a program.”

• Box score

Sunday’s decisive ECAC quarterfinals game was a marathon on ice at the TD Bank Sports Center between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey teams on Sunday. It took five overtimes and 144 minutes and 32 seconds, the second longest NCAA hockey game in Division I history, for the Engineers to beat the Bobcats, 2-1.

Four minutes and thirty-two seconds into the fifth overtime, RPI senior Laura Gersten scored the game-winning goal, just one minute before the game became the longest in history. Gersten received a pass from Whitney Naslund and fired a shot beneath the upper-right crossbar from the right faceoff circle to give them the 2-1 victory.

The goal sent the Engineer players and bench into celebration, but there was some confusion from the Bobcats bench because the light signaling a goal never went off. After the referees got together to review it, they determined it was a goal, drawing a roar from the Engineers, while Coach Rick Seeley and the Bobcats remained in disbelief.

The Bobcats missed a golden opportunity at the end of the fourth overtime when they had a power play in the final two minutes of the period, but didn’t capitalize on it.

Quinnipiac goaltender Victoria Vigilanti kept the team alive in overtime, including four clutch saves during an RPI power play in the first overtime. She finished the game with 57 saves.

During regulation, the Bobcats trailed for most of the game. With 5:22 remaining in the third period, senior Kallie Flor passed the puck across ice to sophomore Bethany Dymarczyk, who fired a slap shot from the left faceoff circle into the upper left-hand corner of the net for a power play goal to tie the game 1-1.

The Bobcats had some good chances to tie the game before that too. It appeared that they did tie the game in the second period when Flor delivered a slap shot off a faceoff in Quinnipiac’s offensive zone. However, her shot ricocheted off the left post and out of play.

The first period was an indicator of things to come as both teams showed they were evenly matched as each had seven shots on goal. But with 7:29 remaining, RPI sophomore Alisa Harrison received a pass from linemate Allison Wright and lifted the puck over Vigilanti’s dive to give the Engineers the early 1-0 lead.

Despite losing the series, Quinnipiac accomplished its most successful season it its nine-year history. They hosted its first ever playoff game and earned its first playoff win after beating RPI 2-1 in double-overtime on Friday. The team finished with a 19-10-8 record overall, and finished fourth in ECAC Hockey with an 11-4-7 record.

Seeley and the players were not available for comment after the game.

• Box score

Senior forward Jeremy Baker paved the way for the Bobcats, scoring a game-high 20 points. Junior forward Justin Rutty added 14 points and 13 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season. Sophomore guard James Johnson was the last Bobcat in double figures, chipping in 13 points and handing out five assists.

The title gives Quinnipiac the first seed in the NEC Tournament and home-court advantage throughout. The Bobcats are also granted an automatic bid in the postseason National Invitational Tournament. If the Bobcats can win the NEC Tournament, they will clinch their first ever NCAA Tournament berth.

Quinnipiac will host eighth-seeded Monmouth at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the NEC Tournament. Quinnipiac split the regular season series with the Hawks, with the home team being victorious in both games.

“We’ve positioned ourselves as well as we possibly could position ourselves,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “I’m very proud of this group of young men. I’m mostly proud of their maturity and unselfishness.

“It’s a group that really gives a lot of themselves without complaining on every level. It’s nice to go on this journey with this group of kids. They mean a lot to me.”

Quinnipiac never trailed in the game and led by as many as 17 points on a three-point play from Baker with 13:10 remaining.

Fairleigh Dickinson rallied late in the second half to cut the deficit to three. The 15-3 run by the Knights brought the score to 65-62 with 3:26 left in the game, but stellar free-throw shooting from Baker and Johnson over the final three minutes secured the win for the Bobcats.

A Robert Morris loss to Mount St. Mary’s earlier in the day opened the door for the Bobcats and they seized the opportunity.  Both Quinnipiac and Robert Morris finished the regular season with a 15-3 conference record but the tie-breaker was awarded to the Bobcats because they held the advantage in the head-to-head matchup.

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2010 NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament

The Bobcats look to be on their way up. For now, at least.

Led by two goals from their captain, Jean-Marc Beaudoin, the Quinnipiac Bobcats took down their rival Yale Bulldogs 4-3 on Saturday night at the TD Bank Sports Center. The win rounds out the Bobcats’ regular season record at 17-15-2, and evens them at 11-11-0 in ECAC Hockey. Yale had already clinched its second consecutive ECAC title prior to the game, but the atmosphere was raucous with 4,267 fans on hand.

The win also allowed Quinnipiac to retain the Heroes Hat, which honors those who were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Ultimately, we needed a big win going into the playoffs,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We’re playing the No. 1 team in the league, No. 5 in the nation. I thought my guys played hard tonight, and we were resilient and opportunistic. I don’t know if it was our best game, but we found a way to win, so I’m proud of them.”

Despite the pro-Quinnipiac crowd, it was Yale who struck first. Broc Little gained control of the puck in the corner and centered it to Denny Kearney. Kearney’s first attempt was initially stopped by Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke, but he slid the second effort between Clarke’s left pad and the goal post to put Yale up 1-0 midway through the first period.

Yale controlled the play for most of the first stanza, but the Bobcats tied it up late in the first while shorthanded. Brandon Wong carried the puck into the zone against two Yale defenders and had the puck initially knocked away from him into corner. Beaudoin found it and passed quickly to Wong, who found a streaking Zach Hansen in the slot. Hansen’s one-timer beat Yale netminder Nick Maricic glove-side, and Quinnipiac evened the score at 1-1.

“I thought that was the pivotal play of the game,” Pecknold said. “Beaudoin, instead of throwing the puck away, gets it to Wong. He didn’t panic, and Hansen jumped in. That was a huge goal, probably the turning point of the game. I know it was early, but it was big.”

Early in the second, the advantage was a 5-on-4, and Yale retook the lead. It was Kearney once more, this time skating in from the left faceoff circle to take a sharp angled shot that went off of Clarke’s shoulder into the net to make the score 2-1.

Quinnipiac drew even with a Greg Holt wraparound goal at 8:22 of the second, and took the lead for good just a few minutes later. Just as an Antoine Laganiere penalty expired, Eric Lampe skated in with the puck along the far side of Yale’s zone. He carried the puck below the goal line, and sent the puck in front to Beaudoin, who deflected the puck past Maricic. It was Beaudoin’s 11th goal of the season, and it gave the Bobcats a 3-2 lead.

A little more than seven minutes into the third period, the Bobcats replicated what they had done to take the lead. Quinnipiac was on the power play, and Lampe skated in on the left side. He centered the puck to Beaudoin, who needed a couple whacks at the puck this time, but managed to sneak it past Maricic to give the Bobcats a two-goal advantage.

The score stayed that way until 4:47 left in the third period. Yale’s Brendan Mason took a one-timer from below the left faceoff circle that beat Clarke to make it a one-goal game, but the Bulldogs couldn’t draw even and Quinnipiac escaped with the 4-3 win.

The Bobcats started the season on a tear, winning 12 of 13 and sending waves throughout the national college hockey scene. But as hot as they started, they cooled off dramatically in the second half. Quinnipiac closed the regular season seventh out of the 12 team conference, and coach Pecknold understands that their season can be viewed in different ways.

“It all depends on your perspective,” Pecknold said. “We were picked to finish 11th, and finished 7th. We got out of the gates so hard, and we completely overachieved. Then we struggled late and we underachieved. Certainly, I’m disappointed we struggled as much as we did. We’re we really the number four team in the nation in late November? No, we weren’t. That was our ranking, but we really weren’t that good. It’s just really all about how you want to look at it.”

If you ask people if a rivalry has formed between Quinnipiac and Yale over the last few seasons, your answer might depend on which side you asked.

“I think you’re crazy to not think there’s a rivalry,” Pecknold said. “It is. Both the first game at Yale and this game were fantastic hockey games. I think both teams get fired up for it and it’s what kids come to college for, they want to play in this environment.”

Yale head coach Keith Allain has a different viewpoint.

“For us, it’s just two points in the standings,” he said.

Regardless of your perspective, it’s hard to ignore how important this win was for a Bobcats team looking to regain its swagger.

“With a win tonight, we can go into the playoffs with a ton of confidence, and that’s exactly what we need right now,” Beaudoin said. “You want to get hot at the right time. We peaked early and stumbled midseason, but right now I think we’re flying.”

Quinnipiac will start the postseason next weekend when it hosts the Dartmouth Big Green in a best-of-three series. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday night at 7 p.m.

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