Many firsts were accomplished today for the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team (1-2, 0-0 MAAC) as the Bobcats went up against the St. Joseph’s Hawks (1-1-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10) on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
One of the firsts was the key victory (on the newly-built turf complex) the Bobcats have been seeking since the first game of the regular season: they defeated St. Joseph’s by a narrow score of 1-0. Today’s match was also the first meeting between St. Joseph’s and Quinnipiac in both programs’ history. Lastly, the Bobcats were able to notch their first and only goal of the season after being shut out by Boston College 4-0 and by rival UConn 1-0 in overtime. Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s was entering this contest winning their first game 3-1 over Temple, then drawing against Hartford 1-1. Senior midfielder Matt Crawford scored all four of St. Joseph’s goals in the first two games of their season.
It only took Quinnipiac five minutes of play to set the tone of the game and get on the scoreboard. Junior forward Rashawn Dally made a nice pass to midfielder James Doig, who then dished off a perfect one-timing feed to junior Matthew Taylor. He buried the difference-making, game-winning goal of the match. Taylor reflected upon the advantages between playing on their former grass field in comparison to their new turf field.
“I think playing on this field is a benefit because we’re able to play our passing game very easily,” Taylor said.
Taylor confidently believes that there wasn’t much stress to maintaining a one-goal lead for the majority of the match because of what was happening on the field.
“We dominated pretty much the whole game,” Taylor said. “There wasn’t much pressure to hold that lead because we knew we were outplaying them.”
In addition to Doig’s assist on the match’s only goal, the England native was all over the pitch today, helping his teammates both offensively and defensively. Doig tallied three of Quinnipiac’s eight shots in the first half alone. He also drew multiple fouls throughout the game to create free-kick opportunities for his squad.
On the other hand, St. Joseph’s offense was lackluster early on. They were held to just one shot attempted in the first 30 minutes of play, that in comparison to seven Bobcat shots. Quinnipiac was also productive and disciplined on the defensive side of play as sophomore Conor McCoy made a well-executed slide tackle to knock the ball away from any dangerous St. Joseph shot on an odd man (three-on-two) rush. Dally joined the defensive effort as he too performed an effective tackle after initially getting beat on a Hawk offensive rush. The numbers were clearly skewed towards Bobcats in the first half, as they were in favor of shots 8-1, fouls 5-8 and saves 1-5.
The early stages of the second half primarily consisted of good ball movement all around, Quinnipiac possession and several scoring opportunities. As the final minutes of the game approached with the Bobcats clinging to just a 1-0 lead, a spectator would have to wonder if St. Joseph’s was going to make the Bobcats pay for not extending their lead and taking advantage of their chances. With just 15 minutes remaining in the game, the shots favored Quinnipiac 12-3 and the fouls too, 12-7. However, though the Hawks were able to get some solid scoring opportunities and accumulate five shots in the second half, none of them made it by the Quinnipiac defensive backline. The Bobcats’ goalkeeper Chrysostomos Iakovidis marked his first shutout of the young season.
Head coach Eric Da Costa is now coaching in his 13th year under Quinnipiac leadership. He is very pleased about the newly-established turf complex, especially considering the victory came complimentary with it.
“It’s a historic moment for our program and everyone who’s involved,” Da Costa said. “This venue is something pretty special to play in.”
After losing to UConn and Boston College, Da Costa was very excited that he and his team was finally able to experience winning.
“I was actually very pleased with our response against UConn after letting up that goal,” Da Costa said. “And the BC [Boston College] game was tough too, so we definitely needed this result to get that sweet taste of winning.”
Men’s soccer is back in action on Friday as they begin a two-game road trip. The Bobcats will start at Brown and conclude the trip against UMass Lowell.
