“We really needed to win.”
For sophomore forward Andrew Monteserin and the rest of the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team, no words rang more true after its 3-1 victory over the Caldwell Cougars Tuesday afternoon.
After a grueling first two weeks of the season, a stretch in which the Bobcats came up winless in four straight contests, the expectation for the Quinnipiac squad was that this match-up against Caldwell would be like hitting the reset button.
With this being the second-to-last game before conference play begins for the Bobcats, and one of only two matchups against Division II teams, Quinnipiac not only needed a win; it needed a statement.
Early on, it seemed like that statement was on the horizon. Quinnipiac dominated the opening minute, maintaining near complete control over both possession and scoring chances.
The relentless pressure and calculated attack paid off for the Bobcats early. Sophomore forward William Holum managed to collect a near-perfect long-ball over the heads of the defense, staving off pressure from Caldwell sophomore defender Pieter Hengeveld to net his first goal of the 2025 campaign.
The shot, coming only 50 seconds into the contest, would be the first of 12 within the half, the most first-half attempts by the Bobcats all season. It was five shots later when, once again, possession in the final third led to a successful Quinnipiac scoring chance.
Junior Taiga Matoba’s cross was the catalyst of the Bobcats’ second goal, finding the foot of sophomore midfielder Fredrik Moen. The following touch pass from Moen to sophomore midfielder Sivert Ryssdalsnes at the top of the box ended in a screaming shot that beat Caldwell’s netminder bar-down to double the Bobcat lead.
Despite the hot start, the Quinnipiac offense cooled down quickly as the half progressed. Even though Quinnipiac maintained some pressure against Caldwell, steadily sloppier passing led to increasingly more dangerous chances from the Cougars’ side.
This problem was only magnified at the start of the second, as both frustration and subsequently, mistakes began to mount. Despite trading great chances, including multiple attempts where the only player to beat for Quinnipiac was Caldwell’s junior goalkeeper Justin Talbot, it was the Cougars who would break the scoreless second half, cutting the Bobcat lead to one in the 56th minute.
The strike by Caldwell seemed to awaken a competitive fire for Quinnipiac, with the intensity exploding after the restart. The physicality, which was all but nonexistent in the first half, increased exponentially as the game progressed. This chippiness culminated in a nasty tackle in the penalty area, awarding the Bobcats an opportunity to return their lead to two.
But once again, Quinnipiac was unable to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the Cougar side, squandering another set piece with the help of excellent goaltending by Talbot. However, the Bobcat side understands that success starts first with creating those chances.
“The more we play, the more those are gonna fall,” Monteserin said.
Even with the mounting pressure and hard-fought attempts by Caldwell to stay in the match, the talent on Quinnipiac would not be denied. Ryssdalsnes tallied his second point of the afternoon on an assist to Monteserin, whose perfectly placed shot barely beat a sharp Talbot to put the game away.
For a game that was meant to be a confidence booster, the Caldwell Cougars proved to be a more difficult challenge than anticipated. It took much more to put the visiting squad away than the Bobcats would have liked.
“We have to finish the game earlier. We got a lot of chances, so the important thing is to score on every chance we get,” Holum said.
For a team that had ample opportunity on the offensive end, the name of the game moving forward will be execution. Maximizing scoring chances is a necessity as conference play looms over a group looking to improve upon last season’s first-round exit.
Quinnipiac will look to continue its winning ways Tuesday, hosting Long Island on Sep. 16. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
