The Quinnipiac men’s soccer team tripled its season goal output Sunday. The offensive effort still wasn’t enough, though, to help the Bobcats to their first win of the season.
The Bobcats squandered a 2-0 first-half lead as they ended up falling to Stony Brook University 3-2 and dropped to 0-5-1 overall. The Seawolves improved to 5-4-1 after sophomore midfielder Leonardo Fernandes broke a 2-2 tie with a game-winning goal in the 77th minute.
For the Bobcats, the story of the game was an impressive performance by junior defender Matthew Rothbart, who scored his first two career goals in the first 26 minutes of the game. What makes this feat even more notable is that entering Sunday’s game the team had only scored one goal in its first five games of the season.
Rothbart kicked off the scoring in the sixth minute, connecting on a goal after an assist from senior midfielder Fabricio Silva. Twenty minutes later, Rothbart struck again with a shot from 25 yards out. His second goal of the game gave the Bobcats a quick 2-0 lead on the road.
Stony Brook got on the board in the 36th minute of the first half as sophomore forward Raphael Abreu scored his second goal of the season, pushing one past Quinnipiac sophomore goalie Josh Lavallee.
The Seawolves seemed to gain some momentum from their late first-half goal as they played with a renewed sense of urgency and quickly tied the game in the 53rd minute. Sophomore forward Berian Gobeil’s fourth goal of the season was one of 11 shots the team attempted in the second half-opposed to only five in the first.
Stony Brook goalkeeper Stefan Manz was able to settle down after Quinnipiac’s two early goals, shutting out the Bobcats in the final 64 minutes. Manz finished with four saves on the game, three in the second half.
The Bobcats will continue the search for their first win of the season when they begin conference play at home against defending Northeast Conference champions Monmouth University on Friday at 3 p.m.
