On a chilly Halloween afternoon, the Bobcats attack looked scary good, as the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team (10-5-2, 8-1-1 MAAC) throttled the Monmouth Hawks (2-14-1, 0-10-0 MAAC), 6-0, to round out the regular season and put themselves in position for the top seed in the MAAC tournament.
Rashawn Dally found the back of the net twice in the first half to finish his regular season with a bang. Then it was Eamon Whelan, Alex Holle, Dejan Duric and Salah Oumorou who added insurance for the Bobcats.
“Today was about putting ourselves in a position to win a regular season championship,” coach Eric Da Costa said. “Our guys were fantastic today and their mentality was top notch, they performed like professionals.”
Quinnipiac looked like the better team straight from kickoff, as they controlled the midfield and had plenty of opportunities to fire shots on net.
It wasn’t until the 21st minute, however, that the Bobcats put themselves on the scoreboard. Eamon Whelan received the ball on a counterattack and found a streaking Rashawn Dally, who fired a one-time shot past Monmouth goalkeeper Sean Murray.
Quinnipiac continued to dominate the possession, and again it was Dally who scored 16 minutes later to give the Bobcats a 2-0 halftime lead.
“It feels good to score,” Dally said. “I’m building some momentum and that’s a good feeling heading into the playoffs.”
The Bobcats were back to business throughout the second half, as Eamon Whelan scored his MAAC leading 12th goal of the season two minutes into the second half.
Freshman Alex Holle scored his first career goal for the Bobcats just five minutes later to put the Hawks to bed.
The Bobcats weren’t done there though, as Dejan Duric and Salah Oumorou scored a minute apart to put Quinnipiac up 6-0.
Quinnipiac currently sits atop the MAAC standings and have guaranteed itself a spot in the semifinals of the MAAC tournament for the third year in a row. A Fairfield tie or loss Wednesday night against Manhattan would clinch the regular season title and the number one seed for Quinnipiac.
“The semifinal is the most difficult game to play in,” Da Costa said. “If you get to the final, you have a chance to win a championship, but you have to get there first.”
Quinnipiac will have a week to recover and prepare for their semifinal opponent, who will be determined Sunday after the MAAC tournament quarterfinals conclude. The Bobcats will host their MAAC semifinal matchup next Thursday, November 8, at 12 p.m.
