Men’s soccer lost their second game of the season to the University of Pennsylvania by a score of 2-0 on Friday night at Hesse Field on the Great Lawn.
The Hawks fell to a 2-0 deficit early in the contest and were never able to claw their way back into it. Penn scored their first goal of the game just nine minutes into the match and quickly followed with another goal in the 17th minute. That would be the end of the scoring for the rest of the match as it turned out.
“We had a tough start to the game,” said Head Coach Robert McCourt. “Full credit to Penn for that.”
Penn had the advantage on the stat sheet as well. They out-shot Monmouth nine to four on the night while also not allowing a single shot on goal.
Monmouth’s best opportunity came in the 30th minute when junior midfielder Chris Scheuerman sent a bullet at the goal that flew wide.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sean Murray finished the day with three saves on five shots on goal. One of his saves was a diving stop that came in the 49th minute that kept the game at a two-goal deficit. In just 19 career starts Murray now has a grand total of 97 saves.
The Hawks did not lose in every statistical category, however. They did lead in the saves department 3-0 but were unable to get a single shot on goal. Monmouth also took five corner kicks while the Quakers only had four.
The other statistics that Monmouth led in are not particularly stats teams aim to excel in. Monmouth was caught offside a total of four times on Friday while Penn only was once. They also committed one more foul than Penn as the foul total came out to 11-10.
While Monmouth did indeed have a slow start to the contest and ultimately lost, they do have some positives to take away from the game according to their coach.
“The boys bounced back and played really well in the second half, which is something we can build on,” said McCourt.
The Blue and White did comeback much stronger in the second half. While it did not result in a win, they outshot Penn 3-2 in the final 45 minutes of play. They also did not allow a goal during that period of time. This is something they need to capitalize on if they look to win their next few games on the road.
Scheuerman and fellow junior midfielder Santo Arena were able to tally shots for the Hawks in their losing effort. Sophomore defenseman Michael Neff and freshman forward Anthony Arena were also able to get a shot of on Friday’s contest.
While the Hawks do not have a goal yet on the season, they have three different players that lead the team with two shots a piece. Arena, Scheuerman and freshman forward Julian Gomez each have two goals on their total for the young season.
In the losing effort, Neff and sophomore junior Anes Mrkulic were able to get playing time for the first time in the 2019 season. This was the first game of Penn’s season as they were able to start 1-0.
Monmouth will look to dig themselves out of their 0-4 hole starting with their first road trip of the 2019 season with a game against Lafayette on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. After Tuesday’s matchup against Lafayette the Blue and White will head up to New York for a Sunday matchup against Colgate at 2:00 p.m. Both games will be broadcasted live on ESPN3.
PHOTO TAKEN by Karlee Sell
