Men’s soccer lost to Saint Peter’s 4-1 at home on Wednesday Oct. 16 before losing to Fairfield University 3-1 in Connecticut on Oct. 19. With the losses, Monmouth falls to 1-10-2, with a record of 1-2-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
On Wednesday against Saint Peter’s the Peacocks capitalized on three second half goals to result in the three-point margin of victory. The only goal of the game for the blue and white came from freshman forward Ben Zakowski who scored his third goal in three consecutive games fresh off of being named the MAAC Rookie of the Week last week.
“Full credit to Saint Peter’s,” said Head Coach Robert McCourt. “They were very good in the second half and deserved the win. We will rally up and get ready for Fairfield.”
On Saturday, the Fairfield Stags jumped out to an early lead after Diallo Simon-Ponte scored the first goal of the game in the 38th minute. A short time after that, Fairfield scored another goal in the 46th minute. The goal was scored by Santiago Gonzalez and both goals came off an assist from Joseph Lozowski.
Monmouth had some shots early but were not able to take advantage. They totaled four shots in the first 15 minutes of the game. Junior forward Sebastian Rodriguez came close to giving Monmouth an early 1-0 lead, but his header hit the crossbar and missed.
After trailing 2-0, Monmouth got on the board in the 76th minute of the game. Sophomore defenseman Liam McGregor, a local kid who went to high school at Middletown North, scored the first goal of his Monmouth soccer career. For McGregor, this was just his 12th game as a Hawk. His only shot on goal against Farifield was a successful one.
Playing in his hometown state of Connecticut, freshman midfielder Griffin Tomas got credit for the assist on McGregor’s goal. This contest marked the 11th career game Tomas has played in as a Monmouth Hawk.
While Monmouth was able to cut the deficit in half late, Fairfield was able to tack on another goal in the 77th minute. Santiago Gonzalez scored his second goal of the game to make the score 3-1. Joseph Lozowski added his third assist of the game.
Monmouth had five shots on goal. The Stags matched Monmouth’s total of five shots on goal. Monmouth had a total of ten shots while Fairfield recorded 12 shots. Tomas and Rodriguez led the Hawks in shots attempted with three each. Monmouth also tallied six corner kicks compared to Fairfield, who only were awarded two. The only caution was by Colman Kim of Fairfield, who was flagged with a yellow card in the 58th minute.
Junior goalkeeper Sean Murray tallied two saves out of those five shots on goal taken by Fairfield. Gordon Botterill, the goalkeeper for the Stags, recorded four saves. Murray was able to rack up a total of 90 minutes played. His season high in minutes played was back on Sept. 21 in a tie at Binghamton, when he played for a total of 110 minutes.
“Tonight was a tough loss on the road. We created some good scoring chances in the first half but failed to convert,” said Coach McCourt. “In the second half, we did well to make it 2-1, but then gave up a soft goal. We continue to work hard and are learning as young teams do.”
Monmouth men’s soccer will return home this week. On Wednesday Oct. 23, they will take on Quinnipiac University at Hesse Field. Game time will be 7:00 p.m. under the lights. Monmouth has played well against Quinnipiac University over the years, holding an all-time record of 14-5-4. The game can be streamed live on ESPN 3.
PHOTO COURTESY of Mark Brown
