MONMOUTH, ILL. The Monmouth College men's soccer team scored in both halves to defeat Cornell 2-1 in a Midwest Conference matchup on Tuesday. The home win moves the Scots to 1-1-1 in MWC action as they prepare for a weekend off.
The game was scoreless into the final five minutes of the first half. Carter Breuchaud (Lebanon, Illinois) latched onto a pass from Owen Murray (Cedar City, Utah) in the box and scored his first collegiate goal. The strike came with 4:18 to play in the half as Monmouth out-shot Cornell 605 in the opening half.
"We definitely tend to do much better when we score first," said head coach Ian Hatleli "We stay more organized, put them on the back foot and we know what we are supposed to do."
Cornell got even eight minutes into the second half with an unassisted goal. With 15:35 to play, the Scots took the lead. Nathan Braun (Clancy Montana) sent the ball forward from near midfield and Ramon Aguilar (St. Louis, Missouri) slotted home for a 2-1 Scots lead.
"Our guys kept the shape late and did what they were supposed to do," said Hatleli. "We moved the ball side to side to open angles and exploit and all around we played pretty well today."
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Goalkeeper Christopher Zavala (New Lenox, Illinois) made five saves in the win. Monmouth's last win over Cornell was in 2016. Tanner Viren (East Moline, Illinois), Logan Corgan (Geneseo, Illinois), Matthew Hipolito (Plainfield, Illinois), Aguilar and Zavala, played all 90 minutes. Kristofer Ruiz-Camarena (El Paso, Texas) led the Scots with three shots on goal, not including one on a free kick that hit the crossbar..Monmouth had 11 shots, seven on goal, and five corner kicks. The Scots are off until next Wednesday when they play at 4:30 p.m. on the road at Illinois College. The next home game is at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14 against Lake Forest.