Last Wednesday, the University Men’s soccer team shared the points with intrastate rival Rutgers in a scoreless draw at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn in front of over 1,700 fans.
“We treat it as just another college game,” said MU Head CoachRobert McCourt Robert McCourt. “We respect Rutgers and are friends with their staff.”
MU secured the first opportunity within five minutes from kick off, a long ball found the feet of freshman forward Jalil Blalock. He pulled his shot wide of the back post.
Around 15 minutes later, junior forward Dave Nigro showcased both his strength and skill by shrugging off a defender and drawing a foul from another. Junior midfielder Miguel Alves stepped up to the ball and attempted to curl a shot on goal. Unlike what happened in MU’s win against Villanova, Alves shot was caught with ease.
Junior goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky was forced into action in the 34th minute when Rutgers’ Drew Morgan headed a Rutgers corner at the back post from close range; Klenofsky made the save and kept the score knotted at zero.
With just seconds left on the clock at the end of the first half, Rutgers surged down the pitch and a left-footed cross found it’s way dangerously into the area, but an acrobatic save from Klenofsky ensured that the two sides would go into the break level.
The Hawks freshman defender Danny Figarella, had a chance to score almost immediately after coming on in the 55th minute, but the youngster was unable to keep his header down as it flew just over the crossbar. A long Rutgers through ball tailed wide left of the goal, but Klenofsky was forced out of his area in order to clear the danger before the opposition could reach the pass.
With less than five minutes left in the ninety, the Hawks whipped in a dangerous cross that was corralled nervously by the opposing keeper, who bobbled the ball on his way to securing it in the end.
The visitors caused some late havoc too though, as a hard shot from the edge of the box flashed just wide of the right post. Moments later, a Rutgers free kick found the head of one of their players, but Klenofsky claimed it, and the final whistle blew.
The Hawks were asking all of the questions in the first period of extra time, but Monmouth was unable to carve out any real goalscoring threats.
It was in the final ten minutes of the match that MU redshirt sophomore midfielder Colin Stripling had a pair of chances. After one corner kick found the midfielder’s foot, Stripling’s diving header off a cross in the 107th minute flew just wide of the left post.
“I thought we had the better momentum in both overtime periods”, McCourt said.
However, as the match drew to a close, a goal never came, and 0-0 was the final score.
“In the beginning of the year we were giving away some soft goals and we didn’t do that today. “ said Coach McCourt. “I see it’s still a building process at this point, but I take positives out of it for sure. One, we created some really good goalscoring chances. Two, when we were tested we responded really well and didn’t give up any chances, and that’s all you can ask of a team.”
Klenofsky, who tallied four saves on the night said, “I feel great. I think the boys have nothing to be ashamed of from tonight. I think it’s a good result. We’re buzzing about going into Saturday.”
This past Saturday, MU travelled up to Worcester, MA to take on Holy Cross.The Hawks won by a score of 1-0.
Redshirt senior John Egan’s goal early on in the second half and Klenofsky’s four saves in that same half helped the Hawks improve to 3-3-1.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
