Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State men's soccer team, ranked No. 8 by the United Soccer Coaches Association and ninth by D3soccer.com, picked up its ninth consecutive victory on Sunday as the Red Hawks downed William Paterson, 3-1 at MSU Soccer Park.
AMER LUKOVIC,
OWEN MURPHY and
JANBI KAGHADO each collected a goal as the Red Hawks (13-1-1), also ran their unbeaten streak to 10 games with the win as it remained unbeaten in NJAC play at 7-0.
Lukovic gave Montclair State a 1-0 lead six seconds shy of the four-minute mark with his team-leading 15
th goal of the season.
JOSIAH CRAWFORD took a pass on the right side and dribbled into the box before tapping a pass to Lukovic in the middle who re-directed the feed with his left foot inside the left post for the goal.
Crawford would figure into the second goal setting up
OWEN MURPHY at the 11:54 mark giving the Red Hawks a two-goal advantage. Crawford flipped a ball from the outside right of the box toward the middle. Murphy, running across to the near post, fired a right-footer into the back of the net for his second goal of the year.
Kaghado registered the final goal for the Red Hawks in the 65
th minute. The senior intercepted a crossing pass by the Pioneers and took several strides to the top of the box before unleashing a hard shot that WPU goalkeeper Thomas Hatch got a hand on, but could not prevent it from going in as Kaghado collected his fifth.
At that point, all that was left to be seen is whether the Red Hawks could register a ninth straight shutout. That answer came with 54 seconds remaining as Montclair was called for a handball in the box. William Paterson's Alfredo Rojas stepped to the penalty kick spot and buried the attempt. The goal was the first allowed by Montclair since a 1-1 tie with Moravian College on September 15, a stretch that spanned 897 minutes.
SHANE KEENAN had two saves for the Red Hawks, who outshot the Pioneers, 20-11.
The Red Hawks are back in action on Tuesday, October 19 with road contest in Upstate New York. Montclair is in Troy, NY to face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at 7:00 pm.
