The beautiful day in Hamden, Connecticut did not bring the Quinnipiac University men’s soccer team the results they were looking for. The Bobcats dropped Wednesday’s game 3-1 against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
The Bobcats (0-4-1) have been outshot by the opposition in every game this season, a trend that continued on Wednesday when Holy Cross (2-1-3) outshot Quinnipiac 12-9.
Quinnipiac’s goalkeeper Triston Henry had six saves, but Holy Cross would find the back of the net three times in the second half. Sophomore forward Nicholas Cestaro scored with 30 minutes left in the game, and shortly after, sophomore midfielder Justin Carfora ripped a penalty kick past Henry.
Sophomore midfielder John-John Diaz scored the Bobcats’ only goal to make it 2-1 two minutes after Carfora scored on the penalty kick.
Holy Cross sealed the deal when sophomore forward Yuji Callahan tapped in the third goal with 36 seconds left.
After a difficult start to the season, Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa wants to address the problems the team has been having.
“We need to sit down and have a long talk today,” Da Costa said after the game. “We’re not converting on the offensive side of things, when we have clear chances…In the second half, to give the opposition the advantage is well beneath our standards, it’s below the way we prepare, it’s below our expectations.”
It was clear Da Costa was upset about giving up the third goal at the end of the game, and was disappointed by the Bobcats’ play in the final minutes.
“[There were] 30 seconds left and you give away a real cheap and soft goal without much effort, without much determination to see the game out,” he said. “Until the clock hits zero I want my guys to compete for every ball, for every tackle, whether the score is 18-0, or 0-0. We didn’t do that.”
However, Da Costa does try to see the good, and build off the positives he saw, such as Diaz’s goal.
“I think we showed some good character,” Da Costa said. “A little bit of fight in the end to get back into the game after we conceded the penalty kick.”
The Bobcats look to get on the winning track when they visit Yale University on Saturday at 7 p.m.
