The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team fell to the Rider University Broncs on Saturday, Oct. 29, by a score of 3-1. This was the Bobcats’ first loss since Sept. 25.
“We knew that coming in [to the game] our objective was to minimize [Rider’s] chances, which we did,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa said.
Despite minimizing Rider’s scoring chances, the Broncs made the most of the few chances they were given.
Quinnipiac drew blood first when sophomore forward Rashawn Dally scored an unassisted goal just over eight minutes into the match. Rider responded quickly when senior back Rob Nardiello fired a shot on goal that deflected off of a Quinnipiac defender before the ball found its way into the net.
With 10:08 left to play in the first half, Rider was awarded a penalty kick after a controversial collision occurred between Quinnipiac defender Conor McCoy and a Rider player; McCoy was given a yellow card for the collision. Junior forward Jose Aguinaga took the penalty kick for Rider and aimed for the bottom left corner of the goal. Quinnipiac goalkeeper Chrysostomos Iakovidis also dove towards the bottom left corner and was able to tip the ball. However, the tip wasn’t enough as the ball deflected off of the post and trickled into the back of the net to give Rider a 2-1 lead. The score stood for the rest of the first half and Quinnipiac headed into the locker room down by a goal.
“At halftime, we just talked about putting the first half behind us,” Da Costa said. “I thought we did a lot of really good things in the first half. We just tried to get back to playing soccer and getting that second goal.”
During the first 15 minutes of the second half, Quinnipiac and Rider took turns in their attacking zones but neither team was able to capitalize. After that, the Bobcats spent more time in the Broncs zone but were unable to produce any goals.
Throughout the second half, tempers began to flare following several grey area “non-calls”. McCoy received another yellow card, which resulted in him receiving a red card. Eight seconds after McCoy was ejected, Quinnipiac junior midfielder Filosmar Cordeiro also received a red card for retaliating the call against McCoy. Four minutes after McCoy and Cordeiro were sent off, Evan Hughes received a red card after he collided with a Rider player in an attempt to turn the ball over.
After Hughes was ejected, spectators began to show their frustration. A majority of the fans were upset with the referee’s calls because they thought he was calling too many fouls against Quinnipiac and too little fouls against Rider. Many fans began to jeer at the referee with some using more explicit language than others.
Spectators were getting so out of hand that a representative from the information desk had to walk across the field and give certain fans a warning that if their jeering continued, they would be removed from the premise. The clock keeper was forced to stop the clock during the contest resulting in about a four or five minute delay.
Rider redshirt freshman Arthur Herpreck scored the lone goal in the half with 6:43 seconds left to go in the game.
Despite the loss, Da Costa still feels confident about his squad going into its last game of the regular season which will be played against Fairfield on Wednesday.
“We still have every opportunity to go into Fairfield. Obviously, the challenges are a bit worn out than they were coming into the game,” Da Costa said. “But we’ve dealt with challenges all year, and we’ll try to face those challenges and come up with a game plan against Fairfield.”
