The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team lost to the No. 18 New Hampshire Wildcats by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in an entertaining match at the Quinnipiac Soccer Stadium. With the loss, the Bobcats fall to 2-3-2 on the season. Currently, they are third best in the conference with MAAC play right around the corner.

In a challenging, hard-fought battle where there were four yellow cards assessed, the Bobcats did not have many opportunities to capitalize as New Hampshire controlled its offense for most of the game. Quinnipiac was not ready to go down without a fight as both teams were locked into a tight defensive battle.

[media-credit name=”Brendan O\’Sullivan” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]It was in the 35th minute when the Wildcats broke through to take a 1-0 lead as junior back Josh Bauer found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. The score would remain 1-0 well into the second half. A major discrepancy in the game was the amount of shots that each team took. Quinnipiac had a disappointing two shots compared to New Hampshire’s astounding total of 29.

The New Hampshire attack was evident as the Wildcats held the Bobcats to minimal possession time in its zone. The only Bobcats goal of the day was scored via a penalty kick made by freshman Tomas Svecula in the 79th minute after junior defenseman Josh Bauer of New Hampshire received a yellow card as a result of a penalty on Bobcats freshman midfielder/forward Jason Budhai.

That would tie the game at 1-1. The Bobcats had finally broke through but it slipped away as UNH quickly regained control. They scored two goals, one via a penalty kick, in the last 5 minutes of the second half. Despite the loss, Bobcats junior goalkeeper Jared Mazzola put forth a nice effort and did what he could, recording seven saves against the nationally ranked Wildcats team.

“We get to a position where we’re tied 1-1 with 5 minutes to go and a mistake there, they can steal that game,” Da Costa said. “In the end, it worked out the way it should have. They’re better than us on the day and they deserve the win.”

Quinnipiac looks to regain its momentum as MAAC play begins when they face Saint Peter’s at home on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. Saint Peter’s is currently second in the conference standings at 3-4 and will look to get back to .500 against a hungry Bobcats team.