WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Thanks to two first half goals, the Northeastern University men's soccer team (2-3-1, 1-2-0 CAA) earned its first conference win of the season, taking down the Monmouth Hawks (2-3-1, 1-1-1 CAA) by a score of 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Hesse Field.
Goals in the first came from
Neil Devnani in the 34
th minute and
Morris Matthews in the 42
nd minute, giving Northeastern a two-goal lead at half time. A strong defensive showing in the second held Monmouth without any real scoring chances until the 76
th minute, but the back line was able to hold on for the one-goal victory.
- Northeastern tallied the first goal of the game 33 minutes into the contest, on a perfect pass from Morris Matthews to Neil Devnani for the header. Devnani charged into the box on the cross and tucked a header past the goalkeeper for his first career goal and the 1-0 NU lead.
- With halftime approaching Matthews found the score sheet again after a turnover in midfield. He dribbled the ball to about 25 yards from goal, and fired a rocket into the upper left corner to extend Northeastern's lead.
- After much offensive pressure from the Hawks in the second, Monmouth was finally able to break the NU defense in the 76th minute, to cut into the lead 2-1.
- Despite the late goal, the Husky defense put up a strong performance, anchored by the stellar play of Tobias Jahn, making five saves on the afternoon and cutting out key crosses from the Monmouth offense to shut down one of the highest-scoring offenses in the conference.
- Devnani's goal was assisted by Matthews, who finished the game with three points. It's Matthews' second career three-point game, tallying a goal and an assist in October of last season against Delaware.
- It was the first game of the season in which the Huskies tallied the first goal of the game.
The Huskies continue the road trip with a midweek contest next Wednesday, September 17
th at Dartmouth. The game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.
