By: Ryan Flaherty
When the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team (1-4-1, 0-0-0 Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference) took the field at home on Saturday, it was looking to get its first win of the season.
And that it did.
It took nearly 100 minutes, but Quinnipiac clawed its way into the win column, beating the Albany Great Danes (3-4-0, 0-0-0 America East Conference) 2-1 in the first overtime period.
The game started slow as not much happened offensively for both teams in the first 20 minutes. It was the Bobcats that began to apply pressure late in the first half, which resulted in a number of great chances.
In the 39th minute, Quinnipiac’s sophomore forward Salah Oumorou beat the Albany defense and had a clear chance to score. But Albany goalkeeper Danny Vitiello made a great save to keep the game tied at zero.
It appeared as if the game would head into the half scoreless, but the Bobcats offense had other ideas.
After working the ball down low, senior Matthew Taylor crossed a ball in towards the Albany goal and found his teammate Romain Daniellou who headed it past Vitiello to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead with under a minute to play in the first half.
Bobcats Goal!
Romain Daniellou scores his first goal of the season in the final minute of the first half, heading in a cross from Matthew Taylor to make it 1-0 Quinnipiac heading into the break. #BobcatNation pic.twitter.com/LI4yssvjBD
— Quinnipiac Men’s Soccer (@QU_MSOC) September 15, 2018
Albany came out of the halftime break ready to attack, as it put the Quinnipiac defense on its heels early.
Albany caught Quinnipiac out of position on a cross into the box from Reid Conde that found Nico Solabarrieta wide open for a header to tie the game at one.
“We really didn’t make any adjustments to be completely honest with you,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Da Costa said. “I thought it was a bad goal. It’s something that we’ve been working on all year, defending that back post.”
After the goal, Quinnipiac settled back into the game but neither team had many quality chances in the last 30 minutes of play.
The best opportunity came off the head of Eamon Whelan, but went just wide of the post. Whelan had scored all four Quinnipiac goals this season coming into to this game.
The game headed into overtime as both defenses held strong.
In the overtime period, Albany gained possession and struck for a few good chances. However Quinnipiac goaltender Jared Mazzola made four saves for the Bobcats, including one in overtime on a bicycle kick by an Albany forward.
With just under a minute left in the first overtime period, an Albany defender committed a foul that set up a free kick from Paulo Soares.
Soares laid a ball perfectly onto the head of teammate Oriac Vila Rotxes who headed it in to the goal to win the game for Quinnipiac.
BOBCATS WIN!
Oriac Vila Rotxes scores the game-winner in the first overtime, and Quinnipiac earns its first W of 2018! #BobcatNation pic.twitter.com/OaZYbRdtqr
— Quinnipiac Men’s Soccer (@QU_MSOC) September 15, 2018
“There’s really no words, but if you watched the game when we scored I probably ran like 3 seconds all the way to the end of the field,” Mazzola said.
After starting the season 0-4-1, Da Costa gave credit to his players for staying motivated and determined to get in the win column.
“I’m really proud of the way the boys continue to battle and compete in every single game and continue to believe in the process,” Da Costa said. “That’s not always easy to do when you’re not getting results.”
Quinnipiac will look to start a winning streak as it heads to Pennsylvania to take on Lafayette Tuesday, the penultimate non-conference matchup for the Bobcats.
