FLUSHING, N.Y. – Continuing their homestand Wednesday evening the Queens College men's soccer team welcomed the Rams of Thomas Jefferson University to Knights Field in non-conference action.
Matching up against the Rams for the fifth straight season and the second time in three years in Flushing junior
Harry Cooke (Market Drayton, England) led the way recording a first-half brace before sophomore goalie
Thanasis Shehadeh (Nicosia, Cyprus) and his defense helped the Knights earn their fifth shutout of the year earning a victory to the final score of 2-0 over the Rams.
With the win, Queens improves to 7-4 overall on the year. Wednesday's win over the Rams earned Queens their third victory in the last five games and two straight in Flushing over their non-conference foe.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It would be a very physical game from the first kickoff as the game saw a total of 39 fouls and nine yellow cards raised.
Queens opened the game by recording their first shot of the game in the second minute of play as sophomore
Andrew Johnson's (Oakdale, N.Y.) shot was blocked before freshman
Bastian Engeli (Bergen, Norway) shot sailed out top in the fourth minute of play.
The Knights would continue to dictate the passage of play as the fouls on the Rams picked up. Queens playing off a free kick from 40 yards would attempt to apply the pressure as Johnson's shot was saved by the Rams' goalie in the 12
th minute of play before Cooke's shot was blocked just 36 seconds later.
The Rams would attempt to take over as they recorded two shots with Shehadeh notching a save in the 17
th minute of play to keep the game scoreless.
As both teams battled in the midfield, Queens would strike first on a play built up by Engeli and sophomore
Miguel Soto Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) as they combined to deliver a through ball for Cooke to blast a shot into the bottom left corner as Queens took an early 1-0 lead in the 33
rd minute of play.
Soto Gonzalez and Queens would waste no time in doubling their advantage as the sophomore forward delivered a cross into the box for Cooke to head home the goal into the top left corner as the Knights took a commanding lead of 2-0 in the 36
th minute of play.
The Knights would hold the Rams to three shots in the first half as they took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
Keeping the same tempo into the second half, the Knights would earn a free kick from 20 yards out in the 48
th minute of play, and with Cooke stepping up to the mark, the junior forward nearly recorded his third hattrick of the year with a shot into the left corner but a timely save from the Rams goalie would keep Queens' advantage at 2-0.
The second half of play saw a total of seven yellow cards and a combined 24 fouls as both sides played a very physical game. But Shehadeh and his defense would keep the Rams to a total of four shots and just one shot on goal to complete their fifth shutout of the year and earn their seventh victory of the year.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Cooke recorded his team-leading 33rd point of the year with his third brace of the year.
- The junior has recorded 29 points in the last seven games recording 13 goals and three assists.
- On the year Cooke has notched a team-high 14 goals and five assists for a team-high 33 points.
- For the fifth straight game, the junior has tallied the game-winning goal.
- With his 13th and 14th goal of the year, Cooke has set a new single-season program record of goals to break the previous record of 13 held by Danny Stoker since the 2011 season.
- Soto Gonzalez recorded his 19th point of the year with two assists to extend his tally to seven goals and five assists on the year.
- Engeli recorded his third career assist for his fifth point of the year.
- In goal, Shehadeh recorded two saves and earned his fifth win of the year and fourth shutout of the year.
- Queens outshot Jefferson 14-7 and held 10-2 shots on goal advantage.
- Cooke recorded a game-high eight shots and seven shots on goal.
- Johnson tallied two shots and one shot on goal.
NEXT GAME
The Knights continue non-conference play on Saturday, Oct. 12 as the Cougars of Caldwell University come to town. Kick-off is set for 7:30 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).
