ALBANY, NY- Monmouth University (2-1) suffered its first setback of the season on Saturday night, falling to former conference rival Albany (2-1), 28-14 at Casey Stadium.

Albany struck first on their opening drive on a Nevin Sussman keeper from four yards out. The drive was set up by a long Donovan McDonald punt return and a 41 yard completion on third down.

The Hawks turned a first quarter Teddie Martinez (Baltimore, MD/St. Paul's School) interception into a touchdown, with Kenji Bahar (Baltimore, MD/Calvert Hall) hitting Ugo Ezemma (Nanuet, NY/St. Joe's Montvale) in the back of the endzone for Monmouth's first score.

Albany responded with an 11-play 72 yard drive to take a 16-7 lead on a field goal. The Hawks turned the ball over on the very next offensive snap and Albany answered with a 20 yard touchdown run to go up 22-7. Monmouth drove down to the 16 but couldn't convert a field goal as time expired in the first half.

Monmouth's defense forced a pair of three-and-outs and the Hawks capitalized after the second one, with Devell Jones (Iselin, NJ/Lincoln) scoring his fifth rushing touchdown of the year. His one-yard touchdown cut the Albany lead to 22-14 with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter.

The teams would go scoreless for the next 16 minutes when Albany's Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks piled in from six yards out to give his team a 28-14 advantage with 9:30 left in the game. Time ran out on the Hawks who had two possessions in the final minutes but didn't cross midfield.

QUOTES
Head Coach Kevin Callahan
"We were playing a good team and we knew we had to start fast. We didn't get out to the start we needed to be competitive in a game like this. To our credit we got ourselves back in it but we weren't able to sustain it and put us in a position to take the lead. Too many times we missed opportunities and we gave up too many big plays on defense and in special teams.

Kevin Callahan on the play of the defense in the second half
"The defense did a good job in the second half, they settled down and got the ball back. When they did score in the second half it was a result of being put in poor field position and against a good team you can't put yourself in those spots."

Kevin Callahan on the play of the front seven
"In the first quarter we didn't get the amount of pressure we wanted. I thought our guys cranked it up and did a really nice job against the run game for the most part and forced them into positions where they had to throw. Our defensive line got stronger as the game went on."

NOTES

• Senior safety Mike Basile moved into second all-time in Monmouth history in tackles with his second tackle in the contest. He passed former All-American linebacker Joe Sentipal and now has 341 career stops- 13 shy of the Monmouth record
• Tymere Berry blocked a field goal attempt in the third quarter, the second blocked kick of the year for the Hawks
• Last season MU led the nation in blocked kicks with eight
• Reggie White Jr. moved into fourth all-time at Monmouth in receptions with a third quarter reception. He moved past former teammate Darren Ambush and former tight end Tyler George
• Albany's defense registered three sacks on the night, the same number Monmouth surrendered in its previous two games
• Teddie Martinez picked off his second interception of the year and his seventh career INT, to give the Hawks the ball at the end of the first quarter. He is now tied for seventh all-time with Mike Pitts and Rob Lomoriello
• Monmouth held Albany All-American running back Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks to 63 yards on 23 carries

NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Albany led total yardage, 326-217
• Junior wideout Vinny Grasso finished with career highs in receptions and yardage, going five catches for 52 yards
• Berry finished with a career-high eight tackles, including five solo stops
• Freshman DeJaun Cooper recorded a career-high five tackles in the contest
• Basile had a season-high 15 tackles in the game, his 18^th career double-digit tackle effort
• Albany had 12 tackles-for-a-loss, compared to five for Monmouth
• Devell Jones' five rushing touchdowns leads the Hawks
• Bahar finished 20 of 31 for 154 yards and a touchdown
• Albany has now won seven straight in the series and 12 of 16 overall contests

UP NEXT
Hawks will continue its four-game road swing against Hampton in Armstrong Stadium next Saturday