FLUSHING, N.Y. – In their second match of the season, the Queens College men's soccer team faced an early challenge as they contended with heavy rain, a one-hour lightning delay, and a brief power outage while hosting Saint Anselm College Hawks Saturday night at Knights Field in non-conference play.
Queens took a 1-0 lead in the 33
rd minute of play, but as the Knights searched for insurance goals, the Hawks would tie the match in the 79
th minute before both sides settled for an even draw after the full 90 minutes of play.
With the tie, the Knights improve to 1-0-1 after the first weekend of play.
MATCH RECAP
The Knights opened the match as the aggressors recording two shots through the first 15 minutes of play.
After a quiet passage of play for both sides, it would be the Hawks who would put the first shot on target, but a timely save from redshirt-sophomore goalie
Thanasis Shehadeh (Nicosia, Cyprus) in the 31
st minute of play would keep the match scoreless.
As Shehadeh and his defense negated an Hawks attacking opportunity, an excellent punt from the goalie would result in him earning his first career assist in the 33
rd minute of play as he found the speedy junior forward
Miguel Soto Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) who wasted no time to give the Knights a 1-0 lead as he beat the Hawks goalie through the left side.
Just as Soto Gonzalez found the back of the net and yellow cards began to pile up, a lightning delay forced both teams off the field for over an hour.
Shehadeh would make his second save of the night in the 38
th minute before both teams went into a quick halftime break with the Knights leading 1-0.
Despite Queens outshooting Saint Anselm 8-5, and 5-3 shots on goal in the second half, the Hawks would eventually breach the Knights' defense on a corner kick in the 79
th minute of play to tie the match at 1-1.
Queens would be denied the game winners on two separate occasions in the final two minutes of play as Hawks goalie kept away a shot from junior forward
Jason Udo (Bronx, N.Y.) near the bottom center and a junior midfielder
Andrew Johnson (Oakdale, N.Y.) header off a corner kick in the final four seconds of play.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Soto Gonzalez recorded his second goal of the year to extend his total points tally to six on the year.
- Shehadeh made his presence felt on both ends of the field recording his first career assist and a season-best four saves.
- As a team, the Knights outshot the Hawks 12-10 and 6-5 shots on goal.
- A total of 26 fouls and eight yellow cards were raised Saturday night.
NEXT MATCH
The homestand concludes on Wednesday, September 10, as the Knights welcome the Chargers of Dominican University of New York to Knights Field. Kickoff is set for 7 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).
