In a drawn out and physical match, the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team pulled out a 3-1 victory against Providence College on Sunday afternoon. The win is the first for the Bobcats this season, moving their record to 1-3 on the year so far.
Quinnipiac opened the scoring just three minutes into the match, with a goal from freshman midfielder Shaquille Huggins from a set play from transfer junior James Greco.
The impact of the newer players was something head coach Eric Da Costa believed would happen during the opening stretch of the season.
“We have some new players in some very key roles,” he said. “It’s about getting them up to speed and acclimated with the team and the rest of the team getting acclimated to new faces in key positions.”
Greco would also get a second assist on James Doig’s first of the year. Freshman Max Rothenbuecher tallied an assist off of a strong play that drew the Providence defenders out of position, leaving Machel Baker an open net.
“They’re coming along, definitely coming along. It’s just a process for us, and a process we have to go through,” Da Costa said. “We’d love to sit here and be 4-0, but the reality of it is that we have to learn from our experiences.”
The only goal given up by the Bobcats was at the seventeen minute mark. With a scramble in front, the ball was kicked away by goalkeeper Borja Angoitia and defender Tobias Esche, before being knocked out by defender Ashton Pett. His stop kicked out in front and was knocked in by Providence’s Dominik Machado.
Da Costa believed the outburst of scoring to be indicative of the plays his team has been making so far in the season.
“We would have liked to score some more goals along the way, but it’s just a process that we have to go through,” he said. “We were focusing in on just being a bit more offensive minded in terms of creating more chances. Still, the more chances we create, hopefully, the more we convert.”
The Bobcat have broken their scoreless streak and won their first match of the season. The team looks ahead to two road matches at Army on Sept. 13, and at Holy Cross on Sept. 17.
