FLUSHING, N.Y. – Playing under muggy conditions Wednesday evening, the Queens College men's soccer team opened a three-match homestand as they welcomed the Golden Falcons of Felician University to Flushing.
Sophomore
Harry Cooke (Market Drayton, England) would record his first career goal in Knights color before the Golden Falcons tied the match 1-1 heading into halftime. In a defensive hard-fought second half, sophomore goalie
Jake Balme (Sheffield, England) would make three saves as the Knights earned a 1-1 draw to open the home schedule.
With the draw, the Knights improved their record to 0-1-1 on the young season, while the Golden Falcons moved to 1-1-1 on the season. Wednesday's draw would be the third straight tie for the Knights against Felician.
Match Recap
It was a quick start to the match for the Knights as Queens took a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of play as Cooke headed home a cross from junior
Jose Mendez (Queens, N.Y.) into the top left corner.
Queens would continue to apply the pressure recording two more shots in the first 20 minutes of play. After the Knights defended a corner kick, in the 31
st minute senior
Leo Pinto (Forest Hills, N.Y.) on the counterattack would just miss doubling the Knights advantage as his shot sailed to the right.
The Golden Falcons would then tie the match 1-1 in the 44
th minute as both sides went into halftime all even.
It would be a defensive battle in the second half which saw a combined 13 fouls called and four yellow cards raised.
The visitors opened the second half on the attack but the Knights defense would stay on task to keep them off the scoreboard.
In the 60
th minute, senior
Adolfo Martinez Paquet (Sevilla, Spain) would tally back-to-back shots only to be blocked away by the Golden Falcons defense.
As the fouls started to rise, Queens would continue to counterattack. Pinto's shot in the 77
th minute would sail out right before rookie
Juan Gomez (Brentwood, N.Y.) shot in the 78
th minute was blocked.
Earning a set piece in the 84
th minute, graduate student
Leoluca Diefenbach (Saarland, Germany) header would just miss the mark from giving Queens a 2-1 lead.
In the 87
th minute, senior
Nicholas Tagios (East Williston, N.Y.) would be denied a game-winner as the Golden Falcons goalie made a timely save.
Felician responded on the counterattack with back-to-back shots in the 87
th minute but Balme would remain on task as he denied both shots to keep the 1-1 score intact.
Responding right back on the breakaway in the 88
th minute, Gomez looked to have sealed the game, but it would be another timely save by the Felician goalie to deny the rookie from opening his goal account.
With the match in the final minute of play, Balme would be called on to make one more save to deny the visitors their second victory of the year as Queens earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Felician.
Match Highlights
- Cooke recorded his first career goal in Knights uniform, while Mendez tallied his second career assist.
- In goal, Balme made three saves, all of them coming in the last five minutes of the play to improve his record to 0-1-1 on the season.
- Queens outshot Felician 14-9 while both sides were even on shots on goal (4-4).
Next Match
Head Coach
Frank Vertullo and the Knights continue the homestand on Saturday (Sept. 9) evening as the Penmen of Southern New Hampshire come to town. Kick-off is set for 5:00 p.m.
Follow the Knights
All home games will be live-streamed on the
ECC Sports Network and fans can follow along on
live stats as well.
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).
