FLUSHING, N.Y. – Returning to non-conference play to open the week, the Queens College men's soccer team welcomed the Chargers of Dominican University of New York to Knights Field Wednesday evening.
Goals came and often as the Knights offense tallied five goals in each half to earn a 10-0 victory over the Chargers to return to the wins column Wednesday evening.
With the win, the Knights improved their record to 4-3-1 on the year.
Match Recap
The Knights came out strong in the opening minutes of play as they rattled off eight shots in the opening 10 minutes of play.
Keeping the pressure on the Chargers' defense, the Knights earned their fourth corner kick in the 15
thminute of play and would be awarded on a short pass from senior
Adolfo Martinez Paquet (Sevilla, Spain) to sophomore
Kevin Johnson (Oakdale, N.Y.) who would deliver a cross to sophomore
Harry Cooke's (Market Drayton, England) to head open the opening goal of the match.
Queens would quickly take a 2-0 lead in the 21
st minute on a set piece as Paquet delivered a cross for freshman
Tommy Gunn (Buenos Aires, Argentina) to complete a header into the middle of the net.
A 2-0 lead would soon become 3-0 as junior
Jose Mendez (Queens, N.Y.) delivered a through ball for sophomore
Chol Chol (Atlanta, GA) for a right-foot blasted from 15 yards out.
In the 39
th minute of play, as the Chargers cleared a rebound shot, Mendez looking to deliver the ball back into the box from 50 yards out would instead send the ball into the top left corner for the Knights' fourth goal of the half.
Queens would round out in the scoring in the first half as sophomore
Andreas Charalambous (Limassol, Cyprus) put back a rebound shot past the Chargers goalie for a 5-0 lead heading into halftime.
Having taken a 5-0 lead to begin the second half, the Knights would add another five goals as Chol completed his hattrick and Cooke added his second brace of the year. While the duo of freshman
Jason Udo (Bronx, N.Y.) and sophomore
Arvin Pereira (Westbury, N.Y.) opened their goal account to complete out the scoring in the 10-0 shutout victory over the Chargers.
Match Highlights
- Chol recorded the first hattrick by a Knight this season for a team-high six points on the night.
- It is the first hattrick by a Knight since senior Nicholas Tagios (East Williston, N.Y.) tallied one against Holy Family on September 15, 2021 in the 4-2 road win.
- It is the first hattrick in Flushing since the 2011 season when Danny Stoker recorded four goals against Lincoln (PA.) on Sept. 26.
- Cooke recorded his second brace of the season to record his fourth and fifth goal of the year and Gunn recorded his third goal of the year.
- Cooke recorded his second game-winning goal of the year.
- While Mendez recorded his first goal of the year and second of his career. The trio of Charalambous, Udo, and Pereira each recorded their first career goal.
- The Knights tallied seven assists with Paquet recording his team-leading fifth and sixth assist of the year.
- Queens notched a season-high 27 points with 10 goals and seven assists.
- The 27 points are the most in a match since the Knights recorded 21 points against the District of Columbia on October 16, 2019.
- The 10 goals are the most in a single match since Queens notched 12 goals against Concordia on September 8, 2016.
- Seven assists tied the third most in a match since the Knights recorded seven assists against Concordia (10/10/18) and UDC (10/16/19).
- The Knights held a 40-8 shots advantage and a 21-2 shots on goal advantage.
- The 40 shots are the second most in a match since the Knights tallied 33 shots against Holy Family on October 23, 2019.
- The 21 shots on goal are the third most in a match since the Knights recorded 17 shots against Jefferson on September 7, 2022.
- In goal, the trio of junior Juan Cruz Ladino (Cali, Colombia), sophomore Jake Balme (Sheffield, England), and senior Austin Matthews (Chico, CA) combined for the shutout making two saves on the evening.
- Matthews made his season debut off the bench.
Next Match
Head coach
Frank Vertullo and the Knights now conclude the week in Staten Island, N.Y. on Saturday (Sept. 30) afternoon in East Coast Conference play against the College of Staten Island Dolphins. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's soccer (qcmsoccer).
