FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to conclude their non-conference play on a strong note Wednesday evening, the Queens College men's soccer team welcomed the Yellow Jackets of American International College to Knights Field.
The duo of junior
Harry Cooke (Market Drayton, England) and sophomore
Miguel Soto Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) paced the Knights' offense with Cooke recording a first-half brace before Soto Gonzalez recorded the Knights' third goal of the game in the 69
th minute of play as Queens earned a 3-0 shutout victory over the Yellow Jackets.
With the win, Queens improves to 10-4-2 overall on the year. Wednesday's win over the Yellow Jackets earned Queens their first victory over AIC in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It would be all Queens in the first half as they held the Yellow Jackets without a shot.
The Knights wasted little time in opening scoring as a long throw-in from redshirt sophomore
Tommy Wagner (East Northport, N.Y.) found Cooke in the box for the junior to complete a header and his seventh goal-winning goal of the year in the 12
th minute of play for a 1-0 lead.
On the restart Queens once again wasted no time as they quickly doubled their advantage as long from redshirt junior
Eyob Gaffigan (Walkersville, MD) found Cooke for the junior to complete his fifth brace of the year with a shot into the bottom right corner for a 2-0 lead in the 13
th minute of play.
The Knights defensive unit would hold the Yellow Jackets without a shot as Queens took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
To begin the second half AIC would record back-to-back shots with one shot getting blocked just 27 seconds into the second half before the second shot sailed out top.
Queens would go onto the offense as they recorded four shots looking to increase their lead.
In the 69
th minute of play, Cooke would connect with Soto Gonzalez who blasted into the bottom right corner as the Knights took a commanding lead of 3-0.
In the final 20 minutes of play redshirt freshman goalie
Thanasis Shehadeh (Nicosia, Cyprus) would record three saves as the rookie goalie and his defensive unit held off the late rally as Queens closed out their non-conference play on a positive note with a 3-0 victory and their 10
th victory of the year.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Cooke paced the offense with a team-high five points with his fifth brace and one assist.
- The junior recorded his team-leading 18th and 19th goal and seventh assist of the year and extended his points tally to 45 on the year.
- Soto Gonzalez recorded his eighth goal of the year to extend his points tally to 21 on the year.
- Wagner recorded his first career assist and his first point of the year.
- Gaffigan recorded his third assist of the year and his fifth point of the year.
- In goal, Shehadeh recorded three saves on the evening and earned his eighth shutout of the year.
- Queens outshot AIC 13-6 and held a 6-3 shots on goal advantage.
- Cooke and Soto Gonzalez combined for 10 shots and five shots on goal.
- While the trio of rookie Bastian Engeli (Bergen, Norway), sophomore Tommy Gunn (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and rookie Kleverson Bolanos (Kew Gardens, N.Y) combined for three shots and one shot on goal.
NEXT GAME
The Knights conclude the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 2 as they welcome the Lions of Molloy University to town in East Coast Conference play. Kick-off is set for 2:00 p.m. Prior to kick-off head coach
Frank Vertullo and the Knights will honor their graduating seniors with their Annual Senior Day ceremony.
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).
