NEW YORK — The Columbia men's soccer team did a lot right Tuesday night at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium and was duly rewarded with a 2-0 victory over MAAC preseason favorite Quinnipiac. The victory evened up the Lions' record at 2-2-2 on the season heading into their first Ivy League contest this Saturday at Brown.
"Quinnipiac is a good team and we knew that coming in – they have a lot of dangerous pieces," head coach Michael Casper said. "To come out of here with a 2-0 shutout is a tremendous performance by our guys. I thought they showed a lot of resilience today. They weathered a lot of storms, even when the red card happened, they just dug in and kept on fighting. I'm just really proud of the effort and thought they were terrific today."
Columbia was the better side over the opening 20 minutes and got the early payoff. Will DeNight caused pressure against Quinnipiac's (2-3-1) back line, forcing a bad pass into the penalty area. Jake Novoshelski was right there waiting to pick it off and beat the Bobcats' keeper with a left-footed shot to send the home side in front.
David Walley nearly doubled the lead off a corner-kick play run to perfection, but his smashing header slammed off the crossbar in the 32nd minute to keep it a one-goal game.
The Lions were aggressive again to start the second half and were rewarded, once more. Less than three minutes after
Joao Lima couldn't make the right contact on a good goal-scoring opportunity, he got a second chance and did not miss this time around.
Brandon Newman was the catalyst, tackling the ball away from Lucas Beredes deep in the QU half to spring down the near side of the penalty box. He sent a left-footed service through the box that came off the head of a Bobcat and went right to Lima at the top of the area. The sophomore from Brazil slotted a low, bouncing shot perfectly inside the far post to double Columbia's advantage.
"It takes a team. Over the course of a season, you need different guys to step up at different times," Casper added. "I thought [Novoshelski] did a great job tonight just pressing at the right moments to cause the first mistake off Quinnipiac and just slot the ball home nicely. Joao is a really talented kid – he's got all kinds of attacking ability – and to have that ball fall to him on top of the box and be able to put that into the net … I'm just really happy for him. He showed his quality and, hopefully, that can continue."
However, the victory would not be without drama. With just over 22 minutes still on the clock, a slip ball was played through for Jason Budhai that sent him one-on-one with
Michael Collodi. In an effort to cut off Budhai's angle, Collodi came outside of the box and went for a tackle but took down Budhai instead. Referee Cedric Cook reached for his back pocket and showed Collodi a straight red, sending the Lions down to 10 men for the remainder of the match.
"We try to prepare our guys to handle the unexpected and handle those moments that go against us," said Casper when asked about going down a man. "Stay calm and stay together. Losing Michael was a big loss for us. He really is the heart of our team. Losing his presence was a tough blow but, at the same time, we have a lot of confidence in Andreas and … all of our goalkeepers. We felt like if Andreas could come in and perform well, we still had a good chance at winning."
Junior
Andreas Zamanian subbed on in goal for the final 22 minutes and was outstanding. He thwarted multiple dangerous looks and came up with two huge saves to keep his side comfortably in front.
Desperate to get back in the game, Quinnipiac's Noah Silverman fouled
Brandon Newman inside the center circle with 5:24 remaining. Unfortunately for Silverman, that foul earned him his second yellow card of the match, resulting in being sent off with a red and eliminating the one-man advantage the rest of the way.
The Lions will hit the road to begin Ivy League play on Saturday at Brown. First kick from Stevenson-Pincince Field is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
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