The Stingers men’s soccer team overcame a 1-0 deficit in the first half to beat the UQAM Citadins 2-1 in their home opener on Friday night.
The Stingers fell 1-0 to the Citadins when UQAM was awarded a penalty kick in the 20th minute, after a foul in the penalty area, resulting in a UQAM player going down. Stingers goalkeeper Remo Taraschi was able to get a piece of the Citadins forward Remi Veilleux’s shot, but it wasn’t enough to stop it, giving UQAM a 1-0 lead.
The Stingers bench wasn’t happy with the call, but head coach Greg Sutton was happy his team didn’t let it affect their play and the score.
“Honestly, it seemed like our goalkeeper got the ball before the player went down, but not according to the referee,” he said of the penalty call. “[But] probably, your guess is as good as mine.
“The guys were able to persevere through all the strangeness, to put it kindly,” Sutton added. “We made some adjustments [at half time] and we were able to break them down and be fortunate enough to get a couple of goals and get a big win for us.”
Veilleux almost got his second goal of the game eight minutes later, when he broke through the Stingers defense and had a wide open net, but a quick sliding play by a Stingers defender prevented Veilleux from taking the shot.
Veilleux was denied yet another goal in the 11th minute of the first half, when a failed clearing attempt by the Stingers after a UQAM corner landed on Veilleux’s foot, but his shot hit the post, keeping the score 1-0 for the Citadins after one half.
A handball in the penalty area in the 25th minute of the second half gave the Stingers a penalty kick and a chance to tie the game. Stingers forward Andrew Bryan capitalized on the opportunity and tied the game 1-1.
With less than five minutes left and the game still tied, Stingers forward Massimo Tartaglia passed it to an open Gabriel Quinn from the side of the field, and his low but hard and accurate shot beat the Citadins goalkeeper Garbard Fénelon, giving the home team a 2-1 lead.
The game ended with a red card given to Stingers forward Amadou Lam after he accumulated his second yellow card of the game.
“We needed to get a win here,” said Sutton. “We had a tough game [against Montreal]. We played well, but the score didn’t dictate that. We were able to bounce back tonight and get a W, which we needed and now we can go into Sunday’s game [with confidence] and get a result against McGill.”
