HAMDEN, Conn – On a beautiful fall day, the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team defeated Saint Peter’s 4-0 in a wire-to-wire victory. The Bobcats, coming off of two straight ties, were presented with a golden opportunity to get back into the win column against the 2-9-2 Peacocks.

The talent gap was clear in Saturday’s matchup as Saint Peter’s couldn’t compete with the Bobcats’ offensive attack from the jump. The Peacocks came out aggressive to start, committing four fouls in the first 10 minutes. 

Quinnipiac didn’t waste the opportunities the over-aggressive Saint Peter’s gave them. Sophomore defenseman Sander Sonsterud connected on a beautiful header off a pass from junior defenseman Jared Smith to give the Bobcats an early lead. 

When the Bobcats have a successful day in the box score you can often find the captain, David Bercedo, tallying a goal. The senior forward did just that in the 18th minute as he fired a point-blank shot for his 10th goal of the season, past Peacocks’ graduate student goaltender Guillem Badenes Mecho. 

When asked what reaching double digit goals meant to him, Bercedo deflected the accomplishment away from himself. 

“For me that’s not important. What’s important is the team,” Bercedo said.

Quinnipiac continued to find success attacking the wing as it has all season long. The hosts found its third goal of the game when Mecho couldn’t reel in a shot by graduate student midfielder Noah Silverman. Freshman forward Ramesh Delsouz was there to find the deflection as he buried it to push the Bobcats up by three. 

It was all Quinnipiac in the first 45 minutes as they didn’t allow the Peacocks to get anything going offensively, as they ended the first half with no shots on goal. However, Saint Peter’s flipped the script in the second half causing some frustration for the Bobcats. 

“In the first half we checked all the boxes, in the second half we weren’t as good as we are capable of being,” head coach Erica Da Costa said. 

It was a role reversal in the second half as the Peacocks were the ones getting some quality shots on goal. The Bobcats were held without a single shot on goal for the first 30 minutes of the second half. 

Despite having some offensive struggles, Quinnipiac didn’t allow Saint Peter’s to get back into the game. Freshman goalkeeper Karl Netzell deserves some serious credit for that as he had multiple diving saves en route to the shutout. 

Frustrations were seen by both sides throughout the game and they seemed to boil over as the game began to become out of reach for the Peacocks. Saint Peter’s was given a yellow card after arguing a missed call. Peacocks head coach Julian Richens was seen getting into a screaming match with one of the sideline referees. 

Despite the second half struggles, Quinnipiac ended the game on a bright spot. Sophomore midfielder Drew Seguro buried his first collegiate goal after being left one-on-one with Mecho. Ryan Lim assisted on the play, earning his first career collegiate point too. 

The Bobcats sideline erupted as Seguro was swarmed by his teammates in what was a feel good moment to close out a convincing victory. 

With the win, Quinnipiac moves to 9-3-3 and moves into second place in the MAAC standings. 

The Bobcats will be back in action on Wednesday at 5 p.m. when they travel to Mount St. Mary’s.