The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team hadn’t lost a game to a Northeast Conference opponent all season until losing to two playoff contenders this weekend – the Monmouth Hawks, 4-3, and the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, 2-0.
Friday’s game was decided in overtime thanks to Quinnipiac senior midfielder Shane Recklet’s game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation. Recklet also scored in the opening minutes of the second half.
Two minutes and 14 seconds into overtime, Quinnipiac committed a foul in the penalty box. Mount St. Mary’s team-leading scorer Chris Wheeler took the penalty kick and beat goalkeeper Freddy Hall to give the Mountaineers a 4-3 win.
“It seems pretty unlucky to lose on a penalty kick in overtime,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa said.
Mountaineer brothers Scott and Gary Phinith scored in the 35th and 43rd minutes of play to give the Mount a 2-0 lead in the first half.
The Bobcats responded in the second half as Recklet scored his first goal of the season on a crossing pass from Durval Pereira in the 52nd minute. Pereira served a corner kick to Recklet, who shot the ball past Mount goalkeeper Chris Davis.
Quinnipiac tied the game at 2 when junior defender Pierre Soubrier scored seconds later. Pereira headed the ball toward the goal, but Davis deflected it. Soubrier found the rebound at his feet and slammed the ball into the back of the net. Pereira picked up his second assist for the game and fourth assist of the season.
The Mountaineers regained the lead on a goal from Kyle Patrick in the 75th minute, but Recklet fired a shot passed Davis just inside the top of the 18-yard box to tie the game with 48 seconds remaining.
“We showed a lot of character to overcome that deficit and to fight back twice tonight,” Da Costa said.
In Monmouth’s 2-0 win on Sunday, RJ Allen scored both goals for the Hawks, the first coming on a give-and-go play inside the box at the 18-minute mark. Allen threaded the ball between goalkeeper Freddy Hall and the near post. Allen scored his second goal in the 53rd minute on a free kick from 25 yards out, shooting it to the left side of the net past Hall.
Quinnipiac posted just one shot on goal in the first half, and were outshot 13-7 in the game.
With the two consecutive losses, the Bobcats’ record dropped to 5-2-2 in NEC and 8-3-6 overall this season. The team looks to come back from the losses in their final regular-season game of 2009 on Friday against Central Connecticut State at 6 p.m. in New Britain, Conn.
