Pope Francis may have just arrived in the District, but men’s soccer was feeling anything but blessed Tuesday afternoon.
An unlucky slip-up by senior forward Philip McQuitty, who saw time on the backline Tuesday, led to a UMBC (No. 25) penalty kick that would prove to be the game-winner for the Retrievers who, after falling behind 2-0, edged GW 3-2.
“I think we easily could have won and that’s encouraging,” senior midfielder Eddie Painter said. “But you’ve got to put away those games where you’re up two-nil like that.”
Coming off a 1-0 win over Loyola Maryland Saturday, the Colonials (2-5-0) looked sharp offensively in the match’s first frame. Sophomore starting forwards Christian Lawal and Koby Osei-Wusu performed well and created chances, but GW ultimately got its scoring from other places.
Junior defender Tobi Adewole put away the Colonials’ first goal in minute 20 off of a free kick served up by junior midfielder Garrett Heine, who earned his eighth point of the season with the assist. Heine leads his team with three goals and two assists on the year.
Painter put his team up 2-0 in the 32nd minute after receiving a cross that materialized from good ball movement by Adewole and Lawal, who both recorded assists on the goal.
But just as it looked like the Colonials would take a 2-0 lead into halftime, the Retrievers (4-2-1) snuck a header past freshman starting goalkeeper Thor Arne Hofs, who recorded three saves on the day, with just seconds left to play in the first half to cut their deficit to one.
“For 44 minutes we were certainly the better team and created a lot of chances,” head coach Craig Jones said. “We really should have gone into halftime up 2-0, and then it’s a different game in the second half, but conceding a goal at that stage is difficult.”
UMBC kept the Colonials on their heels early in the second, finding an equalizer off of a corner kick in the 54th minute.
Despite ensuing GW offensive pressure, the Retrievers never faltered. Calm and collected, UMBC managed to force errors in the Colonials’ final third, the mostly costly of which came in the 68th minute.
At the edge of his own box, McQuitty stumbled and inadvertently put a hand on the ball inside the 18. The subsequent penalty kick was put away for UMBC’s third unanswered goal.
“At halftime we knew the momentum probably swung a little bit in their favor, so we talked about the first fifteen minutes [of the second half] and I thought whoever played the best in the first 15 would win the game, and it was true because I think [UMBC] did,” Jones said.
The game never lacked passion on either side, as GW was assessed four yellow cards in the match, two of which went to McQuitty who was ejected in the 84th minute. UMBC was slapped with three yellow cards in its one-goal victory.
Not even one final push from the Colonials in the second half’s waning minutes, which led to a pair of corner kicks, was enough. Despite outshooting their Top 25 opponent 8-7 on the day, GW never found an equalizer.
“In the first 44 minutes we had that intensity, and we need that as a group. In the second half we didn’t quite have it for that spell, and then we concede and seem to find it again for the last 10 or 15 minutes,” Jones said. “I love that about that group, I think it’s something we need to win games, but today we just couldn’t bring it for the full 90 minutes.”
GW looks to bounce back in its penultimate out-of-conference game Friday at 3 p.m. against Robert Morris at the GW Soccer Field.
