Marist women’s soccer (2-6) dropped its first conference game to Quinnipiac (4-2-1) 2-1 after an 82nd-minute goal from Quinnipiac star graduate forward Morgan Cupo.
Cupo leads the Metro in goals with eight, and her game-winner today was an impressive one. She shot from just outside the penalty box and found the top left corner, beating junior goalkeeper Samantha Graff to take the lead.
Despite the late goal, Graff played her best game of the season. She played the entire game as she has for every Metro game, and recorded seven saves. Quinnipiac was on the attack most of the game, but Graff managed to stave off most of the Metro’s attacks.
Quinnipiac has strong expectations for this Metro season; they were projected to finish third in the Metro after finishing second last season. Cupo was selected for the Metro first team and has so far delivered on that recognition. The Bobcats came into this game after their first Metro win against Mount Saint Mary’s (0-5-2), and moved to 2-1 in the conference.
The Red Foxes came into today off back-to-back wins to open Metro play after a 0-5 start in their non-conference games, with wins against Sacred Heart and Merrimack. They now drop to 2-1 in conference play. These two sides played out to a 0-0 draw last season in Poughkeepsie.
Quinnipiac opened the scoring with a goal off a header by sophomore defender Stella Tosoni in the 32nd minute. The goal was controversial, as originally it was ruled to be interference on junior forward Addyson Earl, after the Bobcat made contact with Graff. After review, they overturned the call, and the goal gave Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
Marist responded quickly. Despite being beaten 12-4 in terms of corner kicks, the Red Foxes were able to take advantage of the opportunities they had. A corner from junior forward Julia Oliveria in the 42nd minute led to a header from junior forward Margaret Johnson, who nodded the ball home to score her first goal of the year.
The first shot of the game came in the fifth minute from Marist graduate forward Marissa Foster. It was the first of four saves from Quinnipiac’s junior goalkeeper Olivia Jarvis. Today was also one of her best performances, as she averaged 2.52 goals allowed per game coming into today, but allowed only one goal.
The next two shots were taken by the Red Foxes, but by the 20th minute, Quinnipiac began to sustain a long offensive attack. They got three set pieces in the next three minutes: two corners in and a free kick, though they led to no goals. This was the theme of the day, as set pieces did not lead to any Bobcat goals.
The second half was more of the same for Marist; they were able to get a few more shots on goal, with three compared to two, but Quinnipiac was on the attack most of the time, shown by their six corner kicks. The Bobcats’ best chance to score came in the 63rd minute when sophomore forward Ella Bryan, whose three points are good for second on her team, got a shot on goal towards the right side, but it was deflected out of play by Jarvis.
Cupo’s goal in the 82nd minute broke the deadlock and put the Red Foxes in a tough position with under 10 minutes to play.
Marist got a chance towards the end after falling behind, with a corner in the 87th minute, but were unable to land a shot on net.
The Red Foxes will now look to rebound with a home game against Manhattan at Tenney Field on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Edited by Ryan Eichem
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photos from Cassidy Connors
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky, and sign up to receive daily alerts here