With Alumni Weekend in full swing, dozens of former Bobcats were treated to an abundance of goals on Saturday at the Quinnipiac Soccer Stadium.

Juniors Simon Hillinger and Griffin Scaglia each scored a brace to help Quinnipiac secure a 5-0 victory over Canisius, improving the Bobcats to 3-1-1 in MAAC play. The five goals were a welcome sight for a Bobcat team that was shutout in their last matchup, a scoreless draw against Niagara.

“We were a lot more efficient on offense today,” head coach Eric Da Costa said. “We felt that we left a win at Niagara and I was pleased to see this response from our team.”

Quinnipiac lacked secondary scoring last year, with MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Eamon Whelan scoring 40 percent of the team’s goals. Additionally, just five Bobcats scored multiple goals last season.

This season has seen a change in the Quinnipiac offense, with Saturday’s goal scorers adding to the mix. Griffin Scaglia’s first two career goals make him the sixth Bobcat to score multiple goals this season. Both of Scaglia’s goals Saturday came off of set pieces.

“We’ve been working on set pieces all year,” Scaglia said. “The mindset is to put the ball away any way you can when it comes to you.”

After appearing in just two games in his first two seasons with the Bobcats, Scaglia has seen a massive increase in his playing time in 2019. He has played in all 11 of Quinnipiac’s games so far, starting six of them.

“We’re really happy for Griffin,” Da Costa said. “He’s one of the hardest workers in our program. His commitment to the team can never be questioned and he deserves everything that’s happened to him.”

Quinnipiac scored four goals in the first half to ease any thoughts of a Canisius upset. The Bobcats have now won six straight matchups against their MAAC foe.

With conference play reaching its halfway point on Saturday, Quinnipiac currently sits in third place in the MAAC table. First-place St. Peter’s has one conference loss, which was handed to them by Quinnipiac in the opening game of conference play for both teams.

“Our mentality and growth as a team has been great,” Da Costa said. “Sometimes we forget how inexperienced we are. We’re happy that we are moving in a forward direction and getting better each day.”

“We approach every game like it’s ours to lose,” Scaglia said. “We want to finish in first place and have home-field advantage throughout the conference tournament.”

Quinnipiac will continue its quest for a first-place finish with a road-trip to Monmouth on Wednesday night before returning home for a Saturday matinee against Iona on October 26.