The American University men's soccer team drew even in the second half with seventh-ranked Monmouth, but two late scores pushed the Hawks past AU, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon at Reeves Field.

Monmouth (4-0) got on the scoreboard quickly as, in the third minute, Erkko Puranen tipped a Max Hamilton shot past AU goalkeeper Matt Makowski.

Facing an early deficit, American (2-2) gained its composure and put together several good scoring opportunities throughout the remainder of the half. In the 17th minute, American's Jack Scott took a pass from Alassane Kane into the open field, but Monmouth goalkeeper Bryan Meredith came out to make a tremendous save. Later in the half, Mike Marino had two legitimate scoring chances, although Meredith was up to the challenge on both occasions.

In the second half, the Eagles were finally able to get rewarded for their aggressive offensive play, as an Eli Dennis header off a Jamie Davin corner kick knotted the score at one in the 56th minute. For the freshman Dennis, it was his first career-goal.

But the veteran Monmouth squad bounced back, as in the 70th minute, Puranen converted the eventual game-winning goal off a frantic sequence in front of the American net. In the 82nd minute, the Hawks added an insurance goal off the foot of Chase Barbieri, and held on to claim the 3-1 road victory.

For the match, Monmouth outshot the Eagles, 17-14, and held a slim 8-7 advantage in shots on frame. Each team registered six corner kicks.

"It was relatively even today against a very sound and experienced team in Monmouth," Head Coach Todd West said. "We have to work on cleaning some things up, especially on set pieces. We played hard and I think we have the potential to be a very good team this year."

The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, September 18 against Syracuse. Match time at Reeves Field is slated for 1 p.m.

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