Last Friday, the Bobcats lost in their match against conference foe Fairleigh Dickinson by a score of 2-0. Going into the game, the Bobcats were tied with the Knights in the NEC standings. The Bobcats had not lost two straight games all year until losing to St. Francis (N.Y.) 2-1 on Oct. 12 and then losing to the Knights.
The Knights’ first goal came on a penalty kick after a handball violation in the box on a Bobcat defender in the 20th minute of play. Knights’ junior forward Samson Malijani faked out Bobcat goalie Freddy Hall on a shot in the lower right hand corner of the net.
In the second half, with the Bobcats still trailing 1-0, Bobcat senior forward Graciano Brito made a run into the box and was tripped up by a Knight defender. There was no whistle and the goalie kicked the ball away.
“To get a P.K. [Penalty Kick] against us on a questionable call, and then something goes blatantly uncalled [for us], it’s tough,” Coach Eric Da Costa said.
The Bobcats were fired up after the no-call on Brito, who is the Bobcats leading scorer with 12 goals on the season.
“[We] started off a bit slow,” Da Costa said. “[But] we got better as the game went on.”
Brito had another close chance to score on a dash to the goal in the 72nd minute, but was stopped again by Knights’ goalie Majdi Zaineh.
The Knights sealed the victory with a goal in the 82nd minute by junior defenseman Chris Faraone. Malijani lofted the corner kick to a leaping Faraone for a header.
The Knights moved ahead of the Bobcats with the win; now standing at 7-3-1 overall and 2-0 in the NEC.
The Bobcats finished the weekend home-stand with a 2-0 win on Sunday over the Sacred Heart Pioneers, another NEC team. The Bobcats are currently tied for fifth in the NEC with a 7-4-2 overall record and 2-2 in NEC play.
Brito assisted freshman forward Durval Pereira’s fourth goal of the year in the ninth minute of play, and closed the game with a goal of his own in the 86th minute, while Freddy Hall continued to shine in goal, shutting down the Pioneers.
The Bobcats’ next game is on Sunday, when they host in-state and in-conference rival Central Connecticut State at 3:00 p.m.
