HAMDEN, Conn — In the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team’s third game of the season, the Bobcats took on the Northeastern Huskies in a tight, physical and gritty game in the heat Tuesday afternoon. Even in the 90-degree weather, the Huskies cooled off the Bobcats as they pulled out a tight 2-1 game.
Coming into this game, Quinnipiac hadn’t lost at home all of last year and for the first two games of 2023. The streak was broken as of today, as it was the Bobcats’ first home loss since Oct. 21 2021.
The first half started with an early chance by the Huskies as graduate student defender Jack Monte headed it on net on a corner but the shot was promptly saved by sophomore goalkeeper Karl Netzell. Northeastern had two great chances to score as senior forward/midfielder Federico Tellez rocketed two shots off the crossbar but they couldn’t fall in his favor.
For the rest of the first half, both teams started to take in the temperatures as they traded chances. However, both backlines held their ground as the game headed into the second half scoreless.
The Bobcats came out firing in the second half trying to get the first goal of the game. The Bobcats had a big chance early on as sophomore midfielder Alex Miller went past two defenders alongside the goal line and threw it in front for graduate forward Tomas Svecula but he pulled it wide, missing a great opportunity.
“We’ve seen that in training from him as far as last January he’s developed well, finding himself,” head coach Eric Da Costa said.“Now he is finding his way to make an impact play but still be efficient with the ball.”
The first goal of the game went to the Huskies’ as they were pushing off the right-side. A dangerous shot from Northeastern sophomore forward Fraser Brown tapped it past Netzell.
Just three minutes later, a free kick was thrown on net but then spilled right to the feet of freshman defender Thomas Vold. With 20 minutes left, the Huskies led by two goals.
The Bobcats didn’t fall back, as graduate student forward/midfielder Jason Budhai was taken down in the second half in the 18-yard box and it was called. Svecula stepped up for a penalty and slid it in the bottom corner past graduate student goalkeeper Gregor Shaw to cut into the Huskies’ lead.
“Jay’s impact is exactly what he gave us. He’s dangerous, he’s a threat, he puts teams under pressure because of his pace and his athleticism,” Da Costa said “He’s evolved into a proper soccer player, so he can make a lot of things happen. He makes our team better, he made an impact today.”
For the final 15 minutes, the Bobcats threw everything they had at the Huskies. Shot after shot, corner after corner, nothing budged — Quinnipiac even sent up Netzell for a last-minute corner. Even with all of the push that the Bobcats showed nothing could get in the back of the net, resulting in the narrow 2-1 loss.
“It’s great leading into so many environments that we are going to play in. Some of the teams that we’re going to compete against. We needed to see what we are made of in terms of our fight and our character,” Da Costa said.
Quinnipiac is next in action on Sept. 9 at 4 p.m. when it travels to take on La Salle.
