Final Stats

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ââ'¬" A pair of second half goals lifted the Monmouth Hawks to a 3-1 victory over Villanova on Saturday night on the Great Lawn here.

The loss was the first of 2015 for the Wildcats, who had opened the season with three straight wins and climbed into the No. 25 slot in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 poll this week.

Junior Andreas Bartosinski scored the Villanova goal.

"We had a week off and were coming in off a national ranking and we ran into a team that was desperate for a win," stated Wildcats' head coach Tom Carlin. "They were determined, especially early, and we couldn't find a flow."

Monmouth (2-3 overall) had the game's only two shots through the first 15 minutes of play but it was Villanova's Max Kroschwitz who generated the first shot on goal, forcing Monmouth goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky to make the first save of the night in the 20th minute.

The Hawks got on the board first, with a goal in the 36th minute. Asiedu Anderson notched his first goal of 2015 with a blast that found the back of the Villanova net at 35:40.

But the Wildcats, who have displayed a knack for responding quickly early in 2015, did so again. A Kroschwitz shot was blocked and the carom found its way to Bartosinski. The native of Germany recorded his first goal as a Wildcat at 39:20 by depositing the ball in the right corner of the net to deadlock the contest.

That is where the score remained after 45 minutes as the two teams took the break for halftime.

"We really responded well and felt pretty good at halftime going in even," noted Carlin.

Monmouth moved back in front in the 47th minute off a free kick. Miguel Alves of the Hawks tucked a shot inside the right post at 46:10 to snap the draw and give the Hawks a 2-1 edge.

"It was a bang-bang play and we got caught on the wrong side of it," stated Carlin. "We fouled them and they were able to get a set piece goal."

The Wildcats pressed the action for the next 25 minutes but were not able to notch the equalizer.

"We really had a lot of the possession after that, and had four or five quality chances but we couldn't get the one we needed," Carlin said.

Instead, Monmouth picked up its third goal of the evening at 78:12, as Andrew Gee put a shot inside the far post after a feed from Egan on the right side.

Villanova nearly got its second goal of the evening at 82:02 when a shot from senior Randy Falk hit the post.

The Wildcats owned a 16-13 edge in shots on the night. Will Steiner made three saves for Villanova while Klenofsky made seven saves in posting the win.

"We ran into a hungry team," Carlin said.

The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday when they host Temple at the Higgins Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. and the match will be live streamed via the Nova Nation All-Access Pass at villanova.com.