It’s been a great start to the 2012 season for the Hawks men’s soccer team. Yet to be defeated, they are 4-0-1 and currently sitting second in the Northeast Conference. Coming off three straight NEC tournament titles and seven straight NEC regular season championships, Coach Robert McCourt’s team is eager to continue their success this year.
“Our goals every year are to set ourselves up to get an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament, to win the NEC regular season and to win the NEC tournament. Those are our three main goals,” said Coach McCourt. “We always feel that, as a program, anything less than that is a failure for us.”
Many changes have occurred since last season ended with a defeat to UCONN in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Hawks welcome four international players who have all earned starting spots on the team and are already making a huge impact. Junior transfer Francois “Paco” Navarro, originally from Paris, France, leads the team in points this year, recording two goals and three assists in the five games.
“Coach McCourt has done a great job putting in a lot of new pieces,” said junior Jacob Rubinstein. “We have a lot of new people this year, a lot of new faces getting a lot of playing time, so he’s definitely done a great job putting everything together.”
Early on, the Hawks have been getting recognition for their play from the Northeast Conference. Two weeks into the season, a Monmouth player has been named NEC Player of the Week as well as NEC Rookie of the Week each week.
The honors of Player of the Week went to Jacob Rubinstein for the week of August 27. Rubinstein scored the lone goal in the season opener at Towson University. A corner kick gave Paco Navarro the assist as Rubinstein put the ball in the back of the net. The goal was Rubinstein’s first since he netted the game winner against Saint Francis (PA.) in the 2010 NEC Championship game.
“That was great, a good feeling to be back and immediately help the team,” said Rubinstein, who missed last season to focus on academics. “I had a year off, so I had to work real hard over the summer. The hardest part was fitness because as I was used to playing soccer, it was definitely a lot of work getting fit again.”
Paco Navarro received the honor of Player of the Week on the week of September 4 when he totaled six points. Against Providence in the second game of the season, Navarro put the Hawks on the board in the 63rd minute to tie the game 1-1. Fifteen seconds later, Navarro was credited with an assist when he fed the ball into the box as midfielder Joseph Schmid put away the game winner. The third goal for the Hawks was scored by Navarro six minutes after the second, and Monmouth improved to a 2-0 record with a 3-1 win.
Reflecting on his first goal as a Hawk, Navarro said, “Derrick crossed the ball into the box, and I was just like ‘I need to be there.’ That’s the thing we work on during training sessions, so I knew I had to be there.”
Freshman David Camacho, originally from Costa Rica, was named Rookie of the Week the week of August 27 for his stellar defensive play against Towson in the season opener. His takeaway in the 88th minute sealed an opening game shutout. Ghana native and first year Hawk, Edney Derrick, was honored with NEC Rookie of the Week for the week of September 4 when he put together five points over a three game span, including three assists.
“We’re creating an awful lot of opportunities. We’re scoring some goals, we’re scoring more goals than we have in the past,” said McCourt. “I like to think going forward, we’re more dangerous than we’ve been at this point in the year versus past seasons.”
The third game, against Rider, resulted in a victory for the Hawks as goalkeeper Alex Blackburn turned in yet another shutout in a 2-0 win. Derrick and Matt Jeffery scored for the Hawks.
“The team looks really good, the further we go into the games, we look in shape and I think we can go far this year,” said Navarro.
On a rainy night against Hofstra, Monmouth settled for a 1-1 tie after two overtimes. Rubinstein scored the only goal for the Hawks on a header in the third minute. Blackburn put together a seven-save effort in the tie.
After Saturday night’s game against Columbia was suspended due to weather, Monmouth suited up Sunday afternoon. Scoring chances came early and often for the Hawks, who were awarded free kicks on 18 occasions. The ball finally found the back of the net in the 37th minute when Ryan Clark sent a corner kick into the box. The ball ricocheted off defenders and bent in the net. The goal gave Monmouth a 1-0 lead.
The defense was spectacular, not giving Columbia many chances. Columbia’s offense was held to just two shots, neither of which was very threatening. The Hawks went on to win the game 1-0. Coach McCourt continues to praise the defense for their play.
“The back core of this team has always been our defense,” said McCourt. “We’re pretty stingy on the defensive side of things. Stingy in the sense that we don’t give up cheap goals; we don’t give up a lot of goals.”
To continue to have success, McCourt says, “We just need to respect the opposition and we need to make sure that we understand every time we play against a team we get their biggest game. It’s a World Cup Final for all the teams that are playing against us.”
Monmouth’s next game is Friday at 7:00 pm against Seton Hall in South Orange, NJ.
PHOTO COURTESY of MU Photography
