HAMDEN, CT - Quinnipiac's Shane Recklet set the tone for the day with a goal in the second minute and the Bobcats added three in the final 20 minutes-plus, including two in the final three minutes, for a 4-0 men's soccer victory over visiting NJIT Wednesday afternoon.
Quinnipiac, which won its season opener last Friday, 3-1, against Iona, took the early initiative against NJIT on Recklet's goal at 1:24 off of a corner kick from Pierre Soubrier, who picked up the first of two assists on the day.
Soubrier put the ball into the middle of the box off a corner kick from the left side. Recklet moved in from the top of the box, making a sliding play, to push the ball into the back right corner of the net.
Having yielded the early goal on a missed assignment on the corner kick, the Highlanders settled down and finished the half with a 9-7 advantage in total shots.
NJIT nearly pulled even about 13 minutes in, but Quinnipiac goalkeeper Freddy Hall made a couple of big saves to keep the Highlanders off the score sheet.
Leading at the break, 1-0, the Bobcats began the second half strong, before NJIT again gained more of the play.
But the score stayed at 1-0 well into the second half, before Soubrier connected for another assist to Dominic Adams nearly 25 minutes into the final period.
Quinnipiac's Graziano Brito, who had scored twice in the 3-1 win over Iona, added his third and fourth goals of the season in a space of 26 seconds to remove all doubt.
He was assisted by Dan Salvo at 87:19 and then made a steal and beat NJIT goalkeeper Josh Osit near side at the 87:45 mark.
NJIT, which lost its opener, 1-0 at Siena, on Saturday, lost again on Wednesday despite a close count in overall shots (20-17 for Quinnipiac) and shots on goal (seven apiece).
Brito, a senior from Cape Verde, an archipelago in the North Atlantic off the western coast of Africa, is living up to preseason accolades that saw him named to the official preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy, which is the soccer equivalent of college football's Heisman Trophy.
Brito was the 2007 Northeast Conference Player of the Year and collected all-region and was an NSCAA/adidas second-team all-America following his junior season.
The Bobcats received a shutout from their junior goalkeeper, Hall, who was tabbed as one of the top five keepers nationally in Division I by CollegeSoccerNews.com. He made seven saves--three in the first half and four in the second.
NJIT's Osit, the current Atlantic Soccer Conference Goalkeeper of the Week, made three stops in goal for the Highlanders.
"Overall we again played well," said NJIT coach Pedro Lopes. "We controlled long periods of the game, but were not rewarded with goals.
"Quinnipiac is a good team and they did a good job disrupting our possession. Unfortunately, our defensive mental lapses hurt us with the result."
The Highlanders, who are off now for nearly a week, return to action on September 9 for their home opener, a 4:30 pm contest on Lubetkin Field against Saint Peter's, an at-large participant in the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's College Cup.
