Despite playing more than 45 minutes a man down, the Monmouth College men’s soccer team beat Augustana College 1-0 on Wednesday. Wyatt Mayor (Galesburg, Illinois) scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute to give the Scots (2-5-2) a win in their final non-conference game.
The game was tight and testy throughout. Both teams picked up yellow cards in the seventh minute as Montgomery Schroeder (Harrisonville, Missouri) and Daniele Meloni jockeyed for position on a corner kick. Another instance of double yellow cards came in the 36th minute. This time the Scots goalkeeper Marcos Garibay (Waukegan, Illinois) and Vikings Bjarki Stole received yellows.
The Scots had the better of the action in the first half as they out-shot the Vikings 8-2. Both teams had four corner kicks and the closest either team came to scoring was when Nico Esparon (St. Denis, France) hit the crossbar. In the closing minutes of the first half, Schroeder committed a foul near midfield and drew a second yellow card, earning an ejection.
The Scots played the rest of the way with just 10 players. Garibay made two saves in the first half and gave way to Dennis Turdean (Chicago, Illinois) in goal for the second.half. Turdean made a couple of big saves early and the Scots cleared another ball off the line.
The game was still tied with 15 minutes to play when Augustana gave the ball away with a bad pass in their defensive third. Mayor pounced on the bad pass and chipped the Augustana goalkeeper for his first career Monmouth goal.
The Scots were under siege for most of the final 14 minutes but Turdean and the defense held their ground. Turdean made six saves in the second half as Augustana out-shot Monmouth 8-5 over the last 45 minutes.
The Scots picked up their second win at home in their last three games. They start Midwest Conference play at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lake Forest. The next home game will be on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 11 a.m. against Ripon.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
