Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Josh Silverman
The Quinnipiac Bobcats extend their lead in the Metro Athletic Atlantic Conference standings as they beat the Monmouth Hawks 3-1 for the first time since 2004. However, the win came at a costly price.
Senior James Doig went down with an injury at the 51st minute mark with an apparent shoulder injury. He was helped off the field by Quinnipiac trainers and looked like he was favoring his right shoulder. Losing Doig, for any amount of time, would be a huge blow to the Bobcats. He leads the team in assists and has three goals on the season.
Head coach Eric Da Costa is confident in the depth they have if it’s necessary to replace Doig.
“We’ll let our medical staff evaluate him. We have depth and we rely on all of our players.”
Forward Ryan Schriederman believes the team can recover from the loss of the senior leader.
“We have a very deep squad and everyone has minutes. Everybody’s ready to go. Everybody listens and everybody’s on board.”
The Bobcats took control of the game early, totaling six shots in the first half. Freshman sensation Eamon Whalen recorded two of those, with the first one missing the net by a hair. The second time around he refused to be denied and scored the first goal of the day, making it eight goals on the season for Whalen.
After a penalty late in the first half, the Bobcats got another chance to get on the scoreboard when senior Doig connected on his penalty shot. The Bobcats went into halftime with a 2-0 lead and never looked back. Da Costa was pleased with his team’s play in the first twenty minutes.
“It was a great first half all around, we got two (goals) but we could have had a couple more.”
Quinnipiac controlled the score in the second half thanks to outstanding play by freshman goalie Chrys Iakovidis. He did what he’s done numerous times throughout the season. He protected Quinnipiac’s lead thanks to six saves. He did let up a goal on a penalty in the second half, but it didn’t let faze him. The freshman is now 8-3 on the season.
The Bobcats got their third and final goal of the day from Matthew Taylor, who hit a free kick from 35 yards away with seven minutes remaining in the game. The shot sailed over the heads of the Monmouth defenders and off the mitts of goalie Chris Seager. Da Costa trusts Taylor as someone who can score from anywhere.
“Taylor is one of the guys we put on free kicks and we have a lot of different options. We can hurt teams and get chances from a lot of different players. Taylor had that opportunity today and he buried it.”
The Bobcats are now 5-1 in the MAAC and own a one-game lead over second place Siena. The Bobcats are red-hot, winning their fifth game in a row. Next up is Siena on October 19, a game that will likely determine first place in the conference.
