WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University men's soccer team, behind two goals from sophomore Chase Barbieri (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough), including his fifth game-winner of the season, defeated Columbia 3-0 on Wednesday afternoon on The Great Lawn. The Hawks, who have now won five straight and are unbeaten in their last seven matches, improve their mark to 6-1-1 on the season, while Columbia falls to 2-5-1.
“We continue to push for 90 minutes of complete soccer, and I felt today was a positive step towards that,” said head coach Robert McCourt. “Top-to-bottom, we were committed to the cause today and we got the result we thought we deserved against a very solid club.”
The Hawks got on the board when Chris Riordan (Ossining, N.Y./Iona Prep) played a ball down to Ryan Kinne (Naugatuck, Conn./Naugatuck), who slipped the ball down the right side to Barbieri, who beat the keeper to the far post 11:04 into the match, the earliest MU has scored all season, for the 1-0 lead. Then, in the 27th minute, Dan Bostock (Nottinghamshire, Eng./Virginia Intermont) headed the ball off a corner kick that was saved, but Barbieri came in and put away the rebound for his seventh goal of the season to increase MU's advantage to 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 until the 55th minute, when freshman George Quintano (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) played the ball through to Kinne who beat the keeper for his fifth marker of the year. The Hawks outshot the Lions 15-10, including 8-3 in the first half, while Columbia held a 5-4 advantage on corner kicks.
Sophomore keeper Bryan Meredith (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) recorded his sixth straight shutout, making two saves in the win. The Hawks have now held the opposition scoreless for the last 580:44 of game action dating back to MU's 2-1 win over Fairfield on August 31.
“Overall, I thought this was our best effort, start to finish, all year,” said Kinne. “Today we came out strong against a team that beat nationally-ranked UC-Santa Barbara, and that's great for us.”
Monmouth returns to action on Sunday when they host in-state opponent Saint Peter's on The Great Lawn at 2:00 p.m.
