Boston College used five consecutive goals to defeat the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team 5-1 in a non-conference matchup last Tuesday afternoon in Hamden.
The Bobcats tallied the first goal of the game 17:44 into the first half. Graciano Brito delivered a pass to Francis Mavula down the right side. Mavula placed a nifty pass across the goal mouth to Tyler Sheikh, who netted his second goal of the year.
Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa was impressed with the team’s goal.
“We scouted BC pretty well and knew we could expose the space in the middle of the field,” Da Costa said. “Graciano made a nice pass to Francis on the outside, and he made the extra pass back towards the middle. It was what we worked on all week in training.”
The Eagles tied the match at 1-1 eight minutes later by taking advantage of a loose ball in front of the Bobcat net. Quinnipiac goalkeeper Paul Fleck came out of the net to pick off a crossing pass, but made contact with a BC forward. Fleck could not hold onto the ball, and the opportunistic Jamen Amato scored the goal to tie the game.
Boston College held a narrow advantage in shots in the first half, 9-6.
“We played them even in the first half, but only played for 45 minutes. That is the story of our season; if we played 45-minute games we would be the best team in the country,” Da Costa said.
Charlie Davies scored two goals within five minutes to put the game away midway through the second half. His first goal twenty minutes into the half came off a long pass from Paul Gerstenberger over the Quinnipiac defense. In the 70th minute, Davies headed in a cross from Ryan Sherman to put BC up 3-1.
Da Costa was frustrated with his team’s play in the second half.
“We didn’t defend the deep ball, which is something we knew we needed to do,” he said.
Goals by Reuben Ayarna and Sherman late in the second half brought the final score to 5-1. The Eagles outshot Quinnipiac 13-4 in the second half. Fleck made five saves in the game for the Bobcats.
With a 2-0 loss to Monmouth on Saturday, the Bobcats fell to 0-7-1 on the season. However, Da Costa does not feel that his team’s record is indicative of their play this season.
“It is really simple. Our problems are all mental. We have the talent and have trained just as hard as any team we’ve played. We need to take care of business on Sunday, get our three points and go from there,” he said.
The Bobcats tied Mount St. Mary’s 1-1 on Sunday afternoon and are still in search of their first win of the season.