By Rebecca Castagna, QBSN Staff Writer

The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team finished their last game of non-conference play with a 2-2 tie against the University of Vermont. The Bobcats (2-4-1) ended their three game losing streak with the tie while the Catamounts (3-3-3) continued their recent unbeaten streak.

Within the first seven minutes of the game, senior Philip Suprise (Milwaukee, Wis.) chipped the ball over the Catamounts’ goalie, with an assist from junior Simon Hinde (Canberra, Australia), giving the Bobcats an early 1-0 lead. This was Suprise’s sixth consecutive goal for the Bobcats.

The Catamounts came back in the 14th minute with a quick shot from Vermont’s Jonny Bonner to tie thegame at 1-1.

Vermont played with an aggressive offense as Quinnipiac struggled with several opportunities to regain possession and control of the ball.

With 14 minutes left in the first half, Vermont’s D.J. Edler took a shot, curving the ball past Quinnipiac’s sophomore goalie Borja Angoitia (Bilbao, Spain). The Bobcats trailed 2-1.

Despite attempts by Hinde, senior William Daniels (Clackamas, Ore.), and junior Tim Quigley (Ridgefield, Conn.), the Bobcats were unable to penetrate the strong defense made by the Catamounts to score up by halftime. The Bobcats had racked up 10 shots and seven corner kicks but only had one goal to show for it.

In the beginning of the second half, the Bobcats experienced difficulty controlling the ball and working past Vermont’s aggressive back line. Then, with 12 minutes remaining, Daniels took a free kick that shot through the defenders’ wall and bounced off of a player’s leg into the goal, tying the game up 2-2.

“We were able to claw our way back,” Head Coach Eric Da Costa said of the game-tying goal. “It’s a positive step for us… we were down but we didn’t quit.”

The game went into golden goal overtime, giving the Bobcats an opportunity to get the win. At the end of the first overtime period, head coach for the Catamounts, Jesse Cormier, got a red card for arguing multiple calls throughout the game and was ejected.

Suprise and freshman Stevenson Hawkey (Pennington, N.J.) made several shot attempts to gain a lead, but could not deliver. Despite an aggressive attack by both teams with an accumulated 14 Catamount fouls and 16 Bobcat fouls, the tie could not be broken.

According to Da Costa, tying the game and ending the Bobcats’ losing streak was a “small milestone” that will be used as momentum heading into next week’s game.

“It wasn’t there for us but it wasn’t a loss,” Da Costa said. “It was a tie. We can build on that. We can move forward.” The Bobcats will move forward to their first Northeast Conference game at home against Monmouth next Friday at 3:30 p.m.