HAMDEN — It was all red as Marist defeated Quinnipiac 2-1 in the MAAC quarterfinals Sunday afternoon.
The opening for Quinnipiac was quite grim. The Red Foxes controlled possession for much of the first half, playing the ball in the Bobcats’ defensive zone. The match was scoreless until sophomore midfielder Arion Ulaj opened up the scoring in the 18th minute.
It looked like Quinnipiac was unable to get anything going. While the Red Foxes ripped out shots easily, the Bobcats were forced to drop back on defense constantly, making it impossible to get anything going offensively. By the end of the first half, Marist outshot Quinnipiac 10-0.
Coming into the second half of play, the Bobcats still appeared to play stagnant, unable to do anything against the Marist defense.
Things only got worse for the Bobcats when a Marist player was fouled inside the box, awarding the Red Foxes a penalty kick following a VAR review. Red Foxes senior forward Richard Morel converted, putting them ahead 2-0.
The Bobcats needed something to spur them back into the game. Luckily, they did. Following a collision in a goal-scoring opportunity, Marist freshman defender Gijs Verheul was assessed a red card forcing it to play with 10 men for the remainder of the game.
The Bobcats took that and ran, looking like a completely different team than the opening half.
Following a foul, the Bobcats earned a free kick taken by junior forward Ramesh Delsouz who finally cut the lead in half in the 72 minute.
Things appeared to improve for the Bobcats as Marist then subbed off starting graduate goalkeeper Jamie Lowell for sophomore backup Dreni Idrizi.
But ultimately, Quinnipiac was unable to capitalize and find the second surge to even the score.
“At the end of the day, I’m really proud of this team and proud of the growth that we’ve had this year,” head coach Eric Da Costa said. “We’re a young group, we’ve got some great players at some key positions and that’s exciting for the future, but we live in the here and at the moment we’re just disappointed at not playing our best.”
This game not only marked the end of the season, it closed the book on several graduating Bobcats’ careers.
“I’m grateful to all our seniors and all the players who played their last game with us, using up their eligibility over the course of their four or five year time with us,” Da Costa said. “They’re not measured or judged by this one game, but judged by the history they’ve had with our program and we should be really proud of them.”
One particular athlete who played his final game for the Bobcats was graduate student defender Terrance Wilder Jr.
“He’s everything, he’s the guy that we will miss the most,” Da Costa said. “We talk a lot about culture and culture is people. Replacing the player is easy, replacing the player that person is is impossible. He’s class.”
Despite the outcome of the game, Da Costa has high hopes for the program in coming seasons.
“I think the future is pretty bright for this group of players, this is hopefully an experience that helps us grow and kickstarts us for next season,” Da Costa said.
