Quintero Rivas Nets Brace, Foret Secures Shutout in Men's Soccer QF Victory

FROSTBURG, Md. – Junior Carlos Quintero Rivas scored once early and once late on to power the Frostburg State Men's Soccer team to a 2-0 home win over West Liberty in the opening round of the MEC Tournament.
 
It took just two and a half minutes for senior Abdur-Rahman Neama to find himself in the heart of midfield with time to turn and play a brilliant ball through to Quintero, who got a sliding shot to go underneath keeper Colton Callen and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Neama himself then had a shot headed towards goal, but was blocked before reaching its destination, while the same happened to the Hilltoppers three minutes later.
 
A WLU free kick was driven over the bar off the foot of Zach Forehand, then nine minutes later, freshman Jan Foret was forced into back-to-back saves, the latter of which he was forced to dive back for a ball that was deflected over his head. One more West Liberty shot was put wide of the mark with five minutes left, as FSU held firm defensively to end the first half up 1-0.
 
Two minutes into the second frame, Quintero nearly doubled Frostburg's advantage, but could only fire right at Callen. The Hilltoppers responded by Vitor Otsuka catching a volley well but straight into Foret, then Forehand missed wide before an effort from Linus Ebert was again hit with power but too close to the Bobcat netminder. 13 minutes later, the game turned into back-and-forth action, as FSU had a corner kick which bounced out to freshman Mason Salvadge, sending his shot over the bar, then at the other end, Forehand tried to beat Foret off a free kick at his near post, but he was equal to it.
 
After senior Zach Harpel headed a chance wide with 20 minutes to go, West Liberty had a trio of chances to equalize, but Foret stood firm on each to keep his team in the lead. Forehand missed another chance high and wide, then it was FSU's turn to pepper the Hilltopper goal. Salvadge made his way into the box and forced Callen into a kick save at his near post, then Harpel fired wide before the Bobcats earned a corner inside the final five, from which senior Mateo Cuadros played a short one-two with freshman Dom Good, the former crossing to the far post where Quintero rose highest to plant the ball home for a 2-0 final score.
 
WLU held a 15-11 shots advantage, with eight on goal to FSU's four.
 
With the win, Frostburg improves to 10-7-1 on the year, while West Liberty concludes their season at 6-9-3. The victory marked the first-ever for FSU in the MEC Tournament, as the 10 wins are also the most for the program since winning 11 games in 2015. The Bobcats now move onto the semifinals, where they will travel to Charleston (WV) on Wednesday, November 13 for a 7 p.m. match. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.