The men’s soccer team tied the Fairfield University Stags by a score of 1-1 this past Saturday, October 5th. With the tie Monmouth is now 1-5-3 on the year, while the Stags moved to 3-2-2. The game was the Hawks’ fifth overtime game of the season, and the fourth that went into two overtimes.
“I thought the guys responded well to a difficult game,” said Head Coach Robert McCourt. We had a soft penalty kick called against us, and the reaction wasn’t one where they put their heads down, and moped about it. I actually thought we were stronger after the penalty kick than before it.”
Play was pretty even through the first half of the match as neither team was able to control time of possession or generate any great scoring opportunities.
This changed in the second half as both teams began to pick up the pace and generate more scoring chances. Fairfield was able to break the scoreless tie in the 57th minute of the game when senior forward, Jon Clements, was awarded a penalty kick. Clements was able to sneak the ball into the top corner of the goal to give his team the 1-0 lead.
With less than 20 minutes remaining in the match Monmouth was able to battle back, and went on the offensive, when senior forward Jacob Rubinstein gained control of the ball and crossed it through the box. Freshman forward, Dave Nigro, was on the receiving end of the pass and put it past the Fairfield goalie to knot the score at 1.
“I certainly feel the guys have been showing character,” said McCourt. “There have been a couple of times this year where we’ve been up against it, and have shown character by coming back and tying up games. Their ability to stay on course and stay positive and focused has been fantastic all year.”
The Hawks kept the pressure on for the rest of the half, and put multiple shots on goal, but were unable to come away with the game winner.
The Stags had a few chances to take the lead in overtime, but Freshman Goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky made key saves, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
This game marked the Hawks’ first conference game as new members of the MAAC, and the atmosphere was similar to what McCourt expected.
“We’re very familiar with MAAC teams. We’ve played against them before because they’re in our region, so there wasn’t a huge difference in the level of the game or anything like that,” McCourt said.
For the game the Hawks outshot the Stage 8-7, and also had the advantage on cornerkicks 5-3. Klenofsky had two saves for Monmouth in, what was, his first career start.
With the tie MU continues to struggle after a disappointing first part of the season.
“It’s been an interesting season for us. Some mistakes that wouldn’t normally be characteristic of Monmouth Soccer have been happening, but we’ve been trying to minimize them and get better,” said McCourt. “There’s been a couple of times this year where we’ve given up soft goals that have resulted in us gettie a tie or loss, and that’s tough. We certainly have to manage games from the back a little better between our goalies and defenders.”
Due to these early season, non-conference, struggles, this years conference play becomes even more important for the Hawks as the team still hopes to gain entrance into the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve always tried to be a team that isn’t just about conference play. We try to set our non-conference schedule up so we can get an at-large bid so we’re not solely focusing on the conference tournament,” said McCourt. “Unfortunately, the non-conference part of our schedule didn’t go to well this year, so now we get to put the first part of the season behind us, and kind of start over new, and try to learn from everything.”
MU will hold their first MAAC home game this Wednesday, Oct 9 when they host the Iona College Gaels on The Great Lawn. Kick off is set for 3 pm.
