DAYTONA, Fla., November 13, 2018 – The No. 2 seed Monroe College Mustangs men's soccer team picked up a convincing 6-0 victory over No. 11 CCBC-Essex on Tuesday in the Mustangs' pool-play opener at the 2018 NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championships at Daytona State College. The Mustangs earn a crucial three points to open their week in Daytona and eliminate the Knights from the tournament with the win.
 
The Mustangs got rolling quickly in Tuesday's matchup. Jorge Figueroa had the ball in the top-left corner of the box, where he pump faked, dribbled, then fired it off a defender, causing it to deflect past the goalkeeper and over the line to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of the game.

The Mustangs struck again in the 29th minute. Luca Erhardt received a pass up the field from Othman Gherab to set up a scoring opportunity, Erhardt was defended well, and the Knights tried to clear, but Tobias Pellio came up with it while sprinting toward the net. Pellio fired from the top of the box, and beat a diving goalkeeper to the right of the net to make it a 2-0 lead for the Mustangs.
 
Monroe got things going again nearly a third of the way into the second half. George Asomani had the ball in the box and was looking for an opening. He instead turned and crossed it over to Erhardt, who chipped it past a defender and into the left side of the net to make it a 3-0 lead for the Mustangs in the 59th minute.
 
The Mustangs made it a 4-0 game in the 74th minute. After Sallu Kamara had a strong scoring chance, Rintaro Takagi followed it up with an impressive shot off his right foot from the left side of the net, sneaking it past the keeper on his short side to give the Mustangs a four-goal advantage late in the contest.
 
The Mustangs reached a crucial lead of five goals in the 80th minute. Giulio Bregu had his first shot saved, but he cleaned up the rebound and pushed it past a grounded goalkeeper to make it a 5-0 lead for the Mustangs. The five-goal lead is significant, as No. 2 Tyler Junior College defeated CCBC-Essex by a score of 5-1 on Monday, and the goal differential would give the Mustangs the tiebreaker should Wednesday's Monroe vs. Tyler matchup results in a draw.
 
Bregu scored again just four minutes later after a beautiful setup from Kamara. Kamara found Bregu streaking down the middle of the field and hit him in stride, where he was one-on-one with the keeper and chipped it right into the goal to push the lead to six goals.
 
Victor Camps improved to 8-1-2 on the season, making one save without allowing a goal in the winning effort. CCBC-Essex goalkeeper Kyle Cooper made 12 saves but allowed six goals to shoulder the loss.
 
The Mustangs will now take on two-time defending champion and No. 2 seed Tyler on Wednesday to determine the winner of Pool B. The winner will move to the semifinals of the NJCAA Div. I Men's Soccer Championship. The game is set to kick off at 12 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 27 teams competing across nine sports. There are 18 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Monroe Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus as of the fall of 2017, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe College Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs).