The William Paterson men’s soccer team (8-4, 2-3 NJAC) shutout Baruch College en route to a 2-0 victory at Pioneer Soccer Park on Monday night.

A major story heading into the match was the status of the Pioneers junior goalkeeper, Kyle Quigley who had been inadvertently kicked in the head in their previous match against Stockton on Saturday. Quigley was ultimately ruled out for the game against Baruch. Freshman, Gabriel Reyes made his first career start in place of Quigley who had started the previous 11 contests, saving shots at a 76.9% clip.

Despite the absence of such a pivotal player, WPU head coach Brian Woods didn’t have much to change in his team’s style of play.

“We haven’t changed anything,” said Woods. “We just have to be conscientious of what we have on the field and we just did the best job we could, and we did a good job of stopping their attack.”

The Pioneers set their very aggressive attack in early, netting their first goal in just the 23rd minute of the game, as freshman was Josh Strickton scored his first career goal on an assist by senior back Zach Perez.

Baruch’s goalkeeper, Kellen Sela was very active totaling six saves, however the constant pressure applied by William Paterson proved to be too much for the Bearcats handle as senior forward Brandon Harley scored his fourth goal of the season in the 53rd minute on an assist from junior Cameron Allen.

Looking ahead to WPU’s next match, a tilt with conference opponent Rutgers-Newark (7-6-1, 2-3 NJAC) on Wednesday, Oct 10, Woods knows that the Pioneers will need to once again bring their “A” game defensively.

“We have to defend, that’s the number one thing,” said Woods. “Their attack is just so potent.”