The Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-4-1, 1-0 MAAC) defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles (3-6-1, 0-1 MAAC) 2-0 on Tuesday. This game was the first conference game of the season as the Bobcats continue their quest to repeat as MAAC champions.
The victory was senior goalkeeper Borja Angoitia’s 27th career win in a Bobcats uniform, making him the all-time leader in wins in program history. The shutout was the fourth shutout in the last five games for Angoitia as he appears to be hitting stride at the right time for the Bobcats as conference play begins.
In the first half, both teams played an even game, putting up four shots each. Neither team was able to break the scoreless tie, though Niagara came close. With five minutes left in the half, Bobcats goalkeeper Borja Angoitia made an incredible diving save to keep the game scoreless going into halftime. At the end of the first half, Niagara had two shots on goal, while Quinnipiac had zero.
The second half was much different as Quinnipiac looked fired up coming out for the second half. The Bobcats scored just over a minute in to the half. Freshman Max Rothenbucher found senior Machel Baker at the top of the box and put a shot on net, beating Niagara goalkeeper Steve Casey. The Bobcats kept up the offensive intensity, maintaining much of the offensive pressure for the rest of the half.
With 10 minutes remaining in the game, sophomore Ryan Scheiderman took a shot that sailed over Casey for the Bobcats’ second goal. The Bobcats finished with 10 shots in the game and the Purple Eagles finished with seven. The cross by sophomore James Doig found the head of Scheiderman for his first career goal as a Bobcat.
“We’ve been working towards this all season,” head coach Eric Da Costa said. “To see the boys put in a real professional performance on both sides of the ball, get a clean sheet and score a couple of goals and obviously our objective was to get a result today and kick off our league campaign in a positive note and we accomplished that.”
Both teams continue MAAC play on Saturday. The Purple Eagles return home to face the Hawks of Monmouth, while the Bobcats travel to play the Golden Griffins of Canisius.
“We just want to continue to keep things positive and continue to improve on what we’ve been improving on all season,” Da Costa said. “Right now, our primary objective is to get some recovery, and get guys’ legs back underneath them, and then we can start focusing our attention on Canisius. But right now we’re focused on what we accomplished today and getting guys healthy for the weekend.”
