The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team lost in overtime 1-0 to the Niagara Purple Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
“They’re devastated and they should be, we played a good game,” Quinnipiac Head Coach Eric Da Costa said. “The only thing against us today was luck.”
The game was hard fought and physical, building off of the last meeting where the Purple Eagles and Bobcats combined for 10 total penalties including two red cards. In this season’s meeting there was a total of 23 fouls. Niagara had four yellow cards themselves, while Quinnipiac had two.
When asked about the game’s intensity Da Costa stated, “It’s a conference game; everyone starts with a clean slate. Every game is important.”
The Bobcats dominated the first half, controlling possession and playing the game at their pace. This was in large part due to dominate and controlling midfield play by senior James Doig, junior Max Rothenbuecher, and junior Shaquille Huggins.
While Niagara had no shots in the first half the Bobcats had four including possibly the best chance of the game. With seven minutes left in the half junior winger Filosmar Cordeiro had a strong run into the box down the left side. He flicked a short pass across to a wide open Ryan Scheiderman, who pushed the ball over the wide open net.
The second half however was much more evenly contested with chances and ball control on both sides. Despite these chances, there was still no score thanks to dominate center back play by Shiquan Lowe and Borna Juracic for Niagara and Jeppe Haehre and Conor McCoy for Quinnipiac.
Despite the stellar defense both teams generated two great chances towards the end of regulation.
With 10 minutes remaining Niagara’s Bautista Pedezert whipped a rocket shot on goal off a free kick. Quinnipiac goalie Chrysostomos Iakovidis denied Pedezert with a strong save.
Then, with one minute left Quinnipiac’s Matthew Taylor found his way into the box off a steal and shot just wide past Niagara keeper Steve Casey.
Both teams, frustrated and exhausted, now had to continue their battle in a “golden goal” or “first to score wins” overtime.
With about four minutes left Doig picked up a yellow card, giving the Purple Eagles a free kick from about 30 yards out.
Pedezert stepped up for the free kick and connected this time as his shot curved passed a tripping Iakovidis to give Niagara the win.
The Bobcats will look to rebound with their next game at Marist College, while the Purple Eagles will look to add to their momentum against at Rider University.
