FC Monmouth Suffers 3-1 Defeat on the Road
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA, PA – FC Monmouth fell to Junior Lone Star FC by a score of 3-1 at the South Philadelphia Super Site on Saturday evening, seeing their record in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) drop to 2-3-1.
“The guys didn’t seem down about it,” said Head Coach Brian Woods. “They’re excited about playing at home on Wednesday night. This is a young group, they’ll bounce back, and they love it. They love playing for the club, they love putting on the uniform, and nobody was really hanging their heads.”
Starting Lineup
FC Monmouth: Weigel, Judge, Pereira, Martinez, Fryc; Akampeke, Covello; Thorsheim, Hammer, Pugliese; Saling.
Stat Breakdown
Junior Lone Star FC vs FC Monmouth
Shots 13 vs 7
Shots on Target 9 vs 3
Goals 3 vs 1
Corner Kicks 2 vs 6
Saves 2 vs 4
Recap
After an unexpectedly delayed kickoff, FC Monmouth opened the scoring in the 29th minute via a penalty kick. Defender Zachary Pereira played a diagonal through ball on the ground across the box and forward Jordan Saling engaged in a footrace with the defender.
“I just sprinted, it was past the net already and the center back was coming so I just stepped in front of him and he clipped my leg,” Saling said. The forward said that he is used to taking penalty kicks and enjoys taking them. After being fouled, Saling picked the ball up, placed it on the spot, and smashed it into the top left side of the net to put Monmouth in front.
Woods said that it was a tough environment for his players to play in. Saling said, “It felt like a Sunday League match… It was a weird place to be. I thought at first we did well and stayed focused.”
Ten minutes later, the hosts equalized through Zoncher Dennis, who scored with a rocket from long distance. Both Woods and Saling believed that the shot may have been a mishit cross, but it landed in the back of the net.
Just moments into the second half, the Stars took the lead. Kouassi N’Guessan scored a header off of a set-piece to put his side in front.
In the 81st minute, Junior Lone Star extended the gap to two goals. Amadou Sheriff scored from far outside of the box with an effort that dipped just below the crossbar and in.
Late in the match, FC Monmouth was disallowed a goal that appeared to go over the line. After a shot rattled off of the post and back in front of goal, defender Thomas Judge sent the rebound on target. “It’s not if the goal went in - the goal did go in,” said Woods, who believed that the linesman was not in position to make the correct call. “With ten minutes left, if we go 3-2 right there… they had already made all their subs, I felt good about us having an opportunity for us to get the equalizer if they would have allowed the goal.”
After ninety minutes, the hosts came out 3-1 victors, bumping their record up to 4-2-0.
“A draw tonight away in this environment, we would have been happy”, said Woods. “We just gotta do a better job for Wednesday’s game.”
FC Monmouth will be welcoming the Electric City Shock to Count Basie Park on Wednesday night in a rescheduled match that was originally set to be the home opener.
“Coach said that these upcoming games are must-wins,” Saling, who has scored in each of the club’s last two matches, said. “We need to focus, we need to train hard come Tuesday and tactically be ready for Wednesday. After Wednesday, tactically be ready for Saturday.”