The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team came into Saturday’s match against the UMass Lowell River Hawks as underdogs. The Bobcats ended up on the losing side of a 2-1 contest, which featured several shots, goalkeeper saves, intensity and emotions among various fashions.
The majority of the first half was primarily dominated by the River Hawks (5-0) as they registered six shots on goal. No shots made it into the back of the net due to acrobatic goalkeeping by Quinnipiac’s (2-3) Brian Westerman. Backing up the keeper was freshman mid-fielder Nate Gaw, who made goal-saving clear in the 40 minute, keeping the match scoreless heading into the second half.
“I think it went back and forth so much but it just came down to the team that had more costly mistakes,” Gaw said.
Constant pressure and offensive threat by UMass Lowell paid off in the early minutes of the second half as River Hawk mid-fielder Carlos Ruiz delivered a field-switching cross for forward Wuilito Fernandes headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net in the 52 minute.
Shortly after, Westerman made a diving save moving left to right to keep Quinnipiac’s deficit to just one goal. It didn’t end up being enough to keep it a one-goal contest though as UMass struck again in the 65 minute as Fernandes tallied his second goal of the game.
Quinnipiac made a late-game push with a goal coming from senior forward Ryan Scheiderman in the 73’ assisted by senior mid-fielder James Doig, which shifted the momentum in the Bobcats’ favor.
“I thought we performed well today even though we had some mental lapses,” Gaw said. “We stayed together until the end and never gave up on each other. There was so many chances at the end of the game to tie it up and I was ready for that because we fight until the end no matter what happens.”
Despite the huge momentum change, River Hawk junior goalkeeper Austin Kroll, who faced just a total of six shots on goal, stayed sharp for UMass providing a sliding save just three minutes after Quinnipiac’s goal. The River Hawks had a chance to put the game away in the 78 minute but Gaw’s hustle produced another goal line save keeping it just a 2-1 game down the stretch.
The Bobcats finish up their three-game home stand against Yale University on Wednesday, Sept. 14 where they look to return to .500 on the season.
