It’s championship weekend in the MAAC as Quinnipiac University is set to host the MAAC men’s soccer semifinals on Friday, Nov. 14. The top seeded Bobcats will face off against the No. 4 Fairfield Stags, and the No. 2 Iona Gaels will take on the No. 3 Monmouth Hawks. The winners of these two games will play for the MAAC Championship on Sunday in Hamden.
The defending champion Bobcats enter as the top seed and host of the tournament. They finished the regular season 10-4-4 with a 7-0-3 record in conference play. The Bobcats have not lost since falling to Holy Cross on Sept. 17. They have been led by senior goalkeeper and 2014 MAAC goalkeeper of the year Borja Angoitia. Angoitia owns the record for the Bobcat’s all time shutouts. Senior forward, Machel Baker led the team in goals with 10 during the regular season.
Bobcats head coach Eric Da Costa says that his team’s ability to come together and work as a unit has contributed to their success this season.
“They believe in each other,” Da Costa said. “We have tremendous leadership from top to bottom. No matter what gets thrown at us, we’re always going to try to overcome it.”
The Bobcats take on a Stags team that they defeated 2-0 in the final game of the regular season. The Stags are coming off a first round 1-0 victory against the Broncs of Rider. Fairfield is a strong defensive team that only allows just .61 goals per game. Goalkeeper Matt Turner totaled 12 shutouts on the season.
Angoitia expects this game to be different from their regular season matchup, but he has faith that his team will come out on top.
“Every game is different,” Angoitia said. “Last time we played them we were able to score two goals. As long as we do what we have been doing for the past two months, I think we’ll be successful.”
The Bobcats are 2-0 all-time against the Stags.
The Monmouth Hawks (9-3-6, 4-1-5 MAAC) will take on the Iona Gaels (9-6-3, 6-3-1 MAAC) in the other semi final matchup. To get here, the Hawks dominated Siena 3-0 in their first round matchup. The Hawks feature one of the top goalkeepers in the conference, Eric Klenofsky. Klenofsky led the MAAC in goals allowed this season, only allowing seven. Dom Sarle leads the team in both goals and assists.
Iona features a high powered offense that was second in the MAAC in goals per game with 1.53. They are led by star forward Ignacio Maganto, who led the MAAC in goals this year with 12.
These two teams faced each other in a thriller earlier in the season. The Hawks held their own, playing a man down for the final 78 minutes of the game, but the Gaels won on a goal from Franky Martinez with only ten minutes to go.
One of the most talked about stories in this years tournament is the possibility of a rematch of last year’s MAAC championship. The Bobcats defeated the Hawks 4-3 in penalties to win the 2013 MAAC Championship. Da Costa is not thinking about a rematch yet.
“We are strictly focused on Fairfield, and being able to put on a good performance for our fans,” Da Costa said.
Both of these matchups feature the top teams in the conference this year. The 2014 MAAC Championship will be held on Sunday at noon at the Quinnipiac soccer field.
