Box Score Monmouth Hawks (0-3-0) – 2
Lafayette Leopards (3-0-1) - 5
 
EASTON, PA – Four second half goals sent Lafayette past the Monmouth University men's soccer team on Tuesday, 5-2. The Hawks scored the first goal of the game in the 22^nd minute and led 2-1 at halftime, but the Leopards took a 4-0 advantage in the second half to seal the win.
 
Junior defender Pablo Fonseca (San Jose, Costa Rica/Saint Clare) and junior forward Sebastian Rodriguez (Cartago, Costa Rica/Mont Berkeley/Virginia Tech) both scored their first goals as Hawks in the first half. Freshman Julian Gomez (Fairview, NJ/St. Benedict's) added his first career assist on Fonseca's diving header.
 
Monmouth drops to 0-3-0 on the season, and will travel to Colgate on Sunday.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"Full credit goes to Lafayette. They are a very difficult veteran team to play against. We have a lot of new starters and had some really good moments in the game. We got punished on some costly mistakes, but will stick together and learn from tonight." - Monmouth Head Coach Robert McCourt
 
-Lafayette got the first major chance in the 4^th minute, but redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sean Murray made a full extension diving save to keep it scoreless.
-In the 8^th minute, redshirt junior John Antunes beat multiple defenders down the right sideline and sent a perfect cross to Rodriguez, whose quick volley was saved by the goalkeeper.
-Monmouth took a 1-0 lead in the 22^nd minute, as Gomez sent in a left footed cross and Fonseca connected on a diving header.
-The Hawks nearly scored again in the 35^th minute when Gomez struck a left footed shot to the lower right, but it was saved by Lafayette.
-The Leopards quickly answered with a goal in the 36^th minute. Monmouth misplayed a ball near the 18, the Lafayette won a race to the goal line to tap it in.
-With two minutes left in the first half, freshman Ben Zakowski threatened with a shot from 30 yards out, but it sailed just wide.
-In the 44^th minute, Rodriguez curled in a shot from 25 yards out that found the inside of the left post. The Hawks took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
-The Leopards tied it up in the 53^rd minute after the ball was knocked around the box off multiple players.
-A quick cross and header gave Lafayette its first lead in the 61^st minute.
-A rebound rolled out to Antunes in the 70^th minute, but his blast sailed just high from the 18.
-With Monmouth playing a man down, Lafayette added another goal in the 79^th minute.
-Lafayette's Sebastian Varela sealed it with another goal in the 82^nd minute, making it 5-2.
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-The Hawks had a season-high 10 shots, including six shots on goal.
-Rodriguez led the team with four shots, all on goal.
-With five tonight, Murray now has 102 saves in 20 career starts.
-Sophomore Liam McGregor, sophomore Ebenezer Owusu, and redshirt sophomore Declan McStravick all saw their first action of the season.
-Freshman Griffin Tomas earned his first start of the season.
 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will travel to Colgate for a 2:00 PM matchup on Sunday.