Soccer can be a funny sport.

You can find yourself completely dominated for about 80 minutes straight, but just one moment turns the game on its head. After it appeared as though the Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s soccer team had life for a moment against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, it was snatched away.

A pair of late goals doomed Quinnipiac (2-3-2, 0-0 MAAC) as it fell 3-1 to No. 18 New Hampshire (6-0-2, 0-0 America East) on Wednesday afternoon in an utterly dominant Wildcat performance.

“They’re a really good team, and we knew that,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa stated postgame. “We were going to have a hard time. And we did.”

The statline certainly backed up Da Costa’s observation, as New Hampshire outshot Quinnipiac by a whopping 29-2 total, including a 17-0 mark in the first half. The Wildcats swarmed defenders around the ball and pressed up to clog any nearby passing lanes, and an Eamon Whelan-less Bobcats squad seemed a little tentative to pass deep downfield.

“We knew that they were going to try to put us under pressure,” Da Costa said. “And we were a bit panicky in the beginning.”

Despite putting Quinnipiac under fire from the opening whistle, the Wildcats could not break the seal – although they did just about everything else. Two Wildcats hit posts in the opening half, with a shot from UNH’s Antonio Colacci hitting both the crossbar and QU goalkeeper Jared Mazzola’s back before the ball trickled out of play.

Finally, with just under 10 minutes left in the half, the Wildcats clawed just enough to break the deadlock.

On a perfectly executed throw in by UNH’s Jonny Wolf, the ball went towards the near post, where it found 2018 second-team All American Josh Bauer’s head, and he guided it past Mazzola and into the back of the net, putting the Bobcats in a 1-0 hole at the half.

The second half started much the same, with UNH putting on an absolute masterclass of suffocating soccer. In the process, the Wildcats almost doubled their lead, with leading scorer Fabian Lutz kissing the bar on a shot after being unmarked through multiple defenders.

With under 20 minutes remaining and the Bobcats hanging on by a thread, it was abundantly clear that a strategic change was needed. As a result, Da Costa instructed his players to start going for the deep shots that UNH had been daring them to take all game.

“We tried to be a little more direct,” Da Costa said. “A little bit of a deviation away from how we normally like to play, but it was necessary today.”

Enter Jason Budhai.

Though small in stature, the freshman has lightning-quick speed, and with about 11 minutes left, he used it to make a run into UNH’s back third. Quinnipiac’s Domen Bozic delivered a gorgeous pass over the Wildcats’ back line, and Bauer had to take down Budhai on the edge of the box in desperation.

After a lengthy discussion between officials, it was determined that Budhai was taken down in the box, and a penalty kick was awarded.

QU’s Tomas Svecula, who had been largely quiet through the game, was given a chance to score his second career goal with his team trailing by 1 against the 18th-ranked team in the nation.

No pressure, right?

Eric Da Costa couldn’t even watch, as he turned to the crowd as his source to communicate the result of the kick.

He let out a large exhale and a coy smile when the Bobcats faithful erupted.

Svecula perfectly placed his kick over outstretched UNH keeper Tomeu Pocovi, and Quinnipiac had equalized with only 10 minutes remaining.

Although the old saying says that it’s a “brand new ballgame”, that wasn’t the case in this one.

The Wildcats quickly rounded back into shape, and with their superiority re-established, it was only a matter of time until they struck again.

With 4:23 remaining, Colacci crafted a flawless through ball in between two Bobcats, where teammate Jacob Gould was waiting.

In a game where most Wildcats couldn’t find the right touch on net, Gould made no mistake, as he fired his shot past Mazzola to put his squad back on top.

After Bozec committed a frustration penalty on Gould in the box just minutes later, Colacci beat Mazzola on a penalty kick to put the nail in Quinnipiac’s coffin, and the score remained 3-1 to the final whistle.

Despite a sour end to non-conference play, Da Costa was pleased with his team’s overall body of work.

“We showed tremendous growth all the way throughout,” Da Costa said. “It’s experience that they’re going to be able to draw from … we’re excited about what the future holds.”

The Bobcats open up MAAC play in their next game, as they take on Saint Peter’s at home next Wednesday. UNH will start their America East title defense this Friday when they host Binghamton.