The future shined bright on Wednesday for the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team as its freshmen helped get the Bobcats a 2-1 victory in their MAAC opener against Saint Peter’s.

In soccer, the game can pick up at any moment. This was evident in today’s match as the game opened in the last 10 minutes. The breakthrough came in the 86^th minute when Eamon Whelan found space in the box and put the ball in the back of the net after his initial shot was saved.

Leading up to the goal, Quinnipiac dominated the game possession-wise, especially in the midfield where players such Brage Aasen and Simon Hillinger found success in threading passes into open spaces in the middle of the pitch. Jordan Bennett also found success going down the wing and getting crosses into the box.

“Tactically, the boys executed the game plan on both sides, the offensive side and defensive side,” head coach Eric Da Costa said. “I thought we did a really good job with limiting them and their threats.”

Quinnipiac thought it had the game won and sat back and defended for the final minutes. However, Saint Peter’s was able to equalize with just 28 seconds left in regular time. Alex Garcia scored the last-second header off a beautiful cross from the feet of Jordan Jowers, which was a direct free-kick from a couple of yards out from the 18-yard line.

On to sudden death overtime.

The Bobcats believed they had the winner when Romain Daniellou put a peach of a cross into the box for Whelan. The senior forward shoved off his defender and caught it on the volley, but it hit the crossbar.

Nonetheless, it was two Quinnipiac freshmen who were involved in the eventual winner. Aasen dribbled past two defenders and found Tomas Svecula who found the bottom right corner and gave Quinnipiac the three points.

Svecula has now scored in three straight games and his game-winning goal was his third of the season. He now leads Quinnipiac in points with six. Svecula is making an immediate impact in his first year for the Bobcats and hopes to continue this good run of form as they head into MAAC play.

“I believe in my team and my teammates believe in me so I think that it is important that I am scoring goals,’’ Svecula said.

Aasen continues to play well in his freshman season. On Wednesday, he got past players with ease and was credited with the game-winning assist.

“I got a lot of space and when I get space, I can just take on defenders,’’ Aasen said.

The Bobcats will hope to bring this momentum into their next challenge on Saturday when they face Manhattan College.