HAMDEN — For a Quinnipiac men’s soccer squad who never matched up against the Long Island University Sharks before Tuesday afternoon, its first-ever matchup was one to forget. The Bobcat side lost in an abysmal 5-2 blowout, plagued with poor execution and an immense lack of discipline. 

The chippiness in the game started from nearly the opening kickoff. 

Ninety-four seconds into the match, sophomore midfielder Sivert Ryssdalsnes drew a controversial foul in the penalty area, driving his own penalty kick home to give the Bobcats their only lead of the game. 

However, in a game defined by its penalties —13 for the visiting Sharks, 17 for the Bobcats—it wouldn’t take long for another whistle to even up the score. Forty-four seconds later, a foul gave a largely defensive Long Island team a prime chance to even up the score. Senior forward Jack Stainrod’s cross, his first of four assists on the afternoon, would connect with the head of senior defender Sam Keogan for the tying goal. 

After that, the following chances were all Long Island’s. Before Quinnipiac had time to blink, another Shark shot squeaked past starting junior goaltender Emilio Balderrama, doubling the Long Island lead. Balderrama, returning to the net after graduate student Matthew Pisani backstopped Quinnipiac to its first victory vs. Caldwell, would fail to save a single one of the four Sharks shots faced. 

Despite the tough showing on the scoresheet, Balderrama was not to blame for the next two Shark chances. Each of the following two goals were the result of a dead ball in the defensive third of the field. The first was a direct snipe from the top of the penalty area, and the second was a defensive breakdown following a cross on yet another free kick. 

Despite an additional goal by Ryssdalsnes before the end of the half, the damage was done. Quinnipiac was down a pair, with frustration building both on and off the field. Execution, which was an area the Bobcat side had struggled mightily with against Caldwell, continued to plague the team. Of the 12 shots Quinnipiac would attempt in the first half, only four would make it on frame. Long Island, with a third of the attempts, would not only manage the same amount of shots on goal, but would convert on every single one. 

That building frustration would only continue into the second half. Quinnipiac would make a goaltending change, returning to Pisani in an attempt to prevent the Sharks from continuing to score at will. Although for the majority of the half, Pisani would succeed in maintaining the score 4-2, his performance would be outshined by the increasingly severe issues players and coaches had with the officiating. 

It began simply. Players and coaches disagreeing with a call on the pitch is a concept as old as soccer itself. That aside, the frequency and inconsistency of many of the officials calls, as well as the severity, began to elicit the immediate ire of both the Quinnipiac and Long Island coaching staff. 

Multiple yellow cards, amounting to four per squad by the end of the match, only exacerbated this issue further. Hard fouls, including one that earned the Sharks a penalty kick that Pisani managed to ward off, were also extremely commonplace, and would be the catalyst for the events that took place in the 72nd minute. 

Play had become far too chippy on both sides before sparks finally flew, but it was senior defender João Pinto’s tackle, the final of three nearly identical moves by the Quinnipiac defense, that caused the tension to snap. In a fit of frustration, junior forward Londell Wheeler of Long Island would intentionally hack at Pinto’s ankle, causing a scrum that would engulf both teams. 

Both squads would immediately come together directly in front of the benches, with shoving and grappling extending beyond the initial parties as the officials attempted to settle things down. Two red cards would be issued after the incident, one to Quinnipiac senior midfielder Alex Miller and the other to Wheeler. 

All the while, both coaching staffs were ensuring that the referees understood their perspective on the situation clearly. Head coach Eric Da Costa was especially vocal on his view of the scrum, and could be heard yelling from the stands. 

“It’s your fault,”  Da Costa said. “They’ve been pushing each other all game!” 

Following a string of similar insults, Da Costa would earn himself a red card, and also be ejected from the contest. Even with being thrown from the game, Da Costa would still get in some final parting words for the officiating group. 

“That’s on you. Not them,”  Da Costa said.  

Another Long Island goal in the 79th minute, senior defender Niklas Thanhofer’s third to complete the hattrick, put the already out-of-reach game fully to rest for the home squad. However, the questions that come from this game go far beyond the abysmal final tally. Questions swirl not only around this Bobcat team’s ability to execute against tough opponents, but also regarding this team’s ability to maintain composure, as well as who will be starting in goal to start conference play. 

Along with that, according to NCAA rules, an ejection of players or personnel because of a red card results in a one game suspension. 

For a team that’s next matchup is against conference opponent Marist, the same squad that upset the Bobcats in the quarterfinals of the MAAC tournament last season, losing its head coach presents a near-insurmountable challenge. 

The Bobcats aim to get back on track this weekend, traveling to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to take on Marist on Sept. 20. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.