By: Dylan Fearon
Expectations weren’t very high for the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team this season.
The Bobcats won just two games last year and fell in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. They lost their entire starting back line and starting goalkeeper. Things weren’t looking good.
But instead of just winning six or seven games this season and showing that the future is bright and the Bobcats are back on track, Quinnipiac ended up being the victors thirteen times, while hoisting the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season championship.
The Bobcats were fantastic in conference play, winning nine out of their last 10 games heading into the MAAC Tournament championship game, where their great run came to an end Sunday against Rider, 3-1.
“Hats off to Rider, they’re the deserving champions,” head coach Eric Da Costa said after the game. “We saw the top two teams in the league and we finally had a game that played itself out for 90 minutes and they’re the deserving champions. We wish them luck in the NCAA Tournament.”
Both teams had very few chances to score early, until the 42nd minute when Broncs forward Christian Flath stole the ball right outside of the 18-yard box, forcing Quinnipiac goalkeeper Chrys Iakovidis to come off of his line. Flath then passed to teammate Elliot Otmani who had a wide open net in front of him. Otmani found twine easily to give Rider a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Quinnipiac couldn’t have had a better start to the second half. Just five minutes in, freshman defender Connor McCoy tied the game up off a cross from senior captain James Doig. It was the Irishman’s third goal of the year.
But the stalemate lasted just 10 minutes, as Rider took the lead back for good in the 62nd minute. Broncs freshman Clement Bourret fired in a shot from 20 yards out that eluded a diving Iakovidis. With only five minutes left in the championship game, senior Jose Aguinaga added insult to injury, giving Rider a 3-1 lead.
Rider’s quickness and emotion was apparent all game long, which gave Quinnipiac some problems.
“They’re a good team,” Da Costa said. “They have some really dangerous offensive weapons and they can get emotional at times which helps them. Individually they have some really dangerous and technical players. When you give a team an opportunity to get ahead and they have that type of talent, they’re always going to be hard to beat.”
Even though the Bobcats fell in the championship, Da Costa urges that his players should have their heads up.
“We’re certainly proud of the effort our guys put in today,” Da Costa said. “It’s always difficult when you are on the losing end of a championship game. Going from one win (in the regular season) to thirteen this year, there’s nothing that these guys should hang their heads over. But the fact that they are generally distraught and hurt by defeat bodes well for our future and I’m excited for what these guys can give us going forward.”
After the game, Da Costa called his team “resilient.” Why? Because they never succumbed to their youth or inexperience all year. They never settled.
“The players could’ve at a lot of different times took a step back and chalked everything up to ‘we’ll, we’re young’ or ‘we’re not supposed to be in this position’ or ‘we can afford to win six games this year and it would be a major step forward from last year,'” Da Costa said. “But they weren’t settling for that. They were never going to be able to sleep well at night with just having a slightly above average season. They want greatness, they want to achieve, they want to win championships and they did. We won a regular season championship. Unfortunately, we don’t have the right to move forward and represent the MAAC in the NCAA Tournament. Only one team finishes the season with a win, and that’s the national champion.”
The Bobcats’ chances in returning to the championship are looking good. They return a lot of young talent to go with experienced players like Doig, Shaquille Huggins, Matt Taylor and Rashawn Dally. But three players, Ryan Schneiderman, Liam O’Sullivan and Brian Westerman won’t be back, as they just played their last game in a Bobcat uniform.
Da Costa couldn’t be more grateful for their dedication to the program, as this senior class won three MAAC regular season championships, one conference tournament championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“Ryan put himself in a position to not just be a role player anymore but be a key player,” Da Costa said. “Being overlooked towards the end of the season and stepping up big for us in the last couple of games. Liam, who was a role player for his first three years and then being asked to be a full-time starter and come in and make an impact and he did (was great). And then Brian, I can’t say enough about Brian and his leadership. Chrys (Iakovidis) isn’t the goalkeeper that he is and he didn’t make the advances in his development or accelerate his growth without Brian in behind him pushing him every single day and supporting him…I am forever grateful to him and have a tremendous amount of respect for him.”
