HAMDEN, Conn. — 368 days after falling to Boston College in last season’s home opener, Quinnipiac men’s soccer got revenge on the Eagles Monday, defeating the visitors 3-1 in Hamden.
The Bobcats’ offense was powered by graduate student midfielder Dario Cavada, who scored the opening goal and picked up an assist, along with freshman midfielder Francisco Ferreira, who found the net for the first time in his collegiate career.
Cavada scored for Quinnipiac just 14 minutes in. Senior forward Tomas Svecula’s beautiful backheel pass found senior defender Terrance Wilder Jr., who put a shot on net, which was batted away by junior goalkeeper Leon Musial. However, Musial’s effort wasn’t enough, as Cavada was right there to tap home the rebound for the opening goal.
“He’s been excellent,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa said. “He’s a player with experience that we brought in, not only for that experience, but for the character that he possesses. You spend ten minutes talking to him and you fall in love with him.”
Quinnipiac doubled its lead just 21 minutes later, as Cavada chased down a through ball from Svecula, before quickly finding Ferreira in the box, who fired a shot past Musial into the top right corner.
“Coming in as a transfer, they made it really easy for me,” Cavada said. “It only took me a couple weeks to get used to the team build. They are pretty good guys on the team.. You can tell there’s such good chemistry with us. Despite having 12 new guys on the team, we’re making it work and we’re getting the results that we want.”
Immediately after the Bobcats took the 2-0 lead, the Eagles began to press on the offensive end. Quinnipiac quickly found itself struggling to keep BC out of its defensive third.
In the 38th minute, the Eagles narrowed the gap with a stellar solo performance by freshman midfielder Xavier O’Neil, who navigated his way into Quinnipiac’s right penalty area and delivered a well-timed pass to junior midfielder Jonathan Murphy. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Murphy sent it into the top of the net, marking O’Neil’s first point in his collegiate career.
With the Bobcat lead slimmed down to just one, Quinnipiac entered the second half firing on all cylinders.
The Bobcats played the game at their pace, and it all paid off in the 58th minute. Graduate student forward Brage Aasen finished a beautiful centering pass by Svecula and neatly tucked a shot past Musial into the bottom left corner.
With their two-goal cushion restored, the Bobcats returned to a defensive style of soccer. The Eagles retained a majority of the possession over the final 30 minutes of action, but Quinnipiac’s defense stood tall, closing out the 3-1 victory.
“It’s early in the season, we just want to continue to grow and get better,” Da Costa said. “We played a really good team and I thought there were a lot of things we need to improve on and keep getting better at, but there were also a lot of things we got right today too. Proud of the team, just another step in the right direction.”
The victory pushes Quinnipiac to 1-0-1 on the season. The Bobcats have now won two of their last three meetings against Boston College dating back to 2021. Quinnipiac wraps up its three-game season-opening homestand on Sep. 4 against Northeastern.
