NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., May 20, 2021 – Though it had not played a regular-season game for nearly a month, the No. 4-ranked Monroe College Mustangs men's soccer shook off the rust to defeat Montgomery College-Rockville by a score of 5-1 in Thursday's East District Championship semifinal at Flowers Park. The Mustangs improve to 3-0 on the season and advance to the East District Championship with the win.
 
After more than 30 minutes of scoreless play, Tom Worm finally broke the drought for the Mustangs in the 34th minute. Shortly after coming off the bench, Worm weaved through the defense to get one-on-one with the goalkeeper, shooting one in off a slight deflection by the keeper to give Monroe a 1-0 edge late in the first half.
 
The Raptors capitalized on a mistake by the Mustangs, stealing the ball in their offensive zone. The ball found Abraham Israel, who got past two defenders to get a shot from close range, narrowly getting it past Mathew Nikolovski to the left of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 39th minute.
 
The Mustangs were on the defensive for a few more minutes after the Raptors' goal, but they finally cleared the ball out of their half of the field with just a couple minutes to play in the half. After regrouping, they earned a corner kick, which was played out quickly to the left wing. Leon Sitz then found Cooper Nunn right in front of the net, where he needed a quick redirection to put it past the goalie and into the goal to put the Mustangs up, 2-1, with just 53 seconds left in the first half.
 
It did not take long for the Mustangs to get their momentum back in the second half. After playing it into the offensive half of the field, Simon Gartmann got the ball to Worm, who fired from 10 yards before the box, having it knuckle to the right of the keeper and into the net to make it a 3-1 score in the 50th minute.
 
Worm secured the hat trick in the 68th minute of the contest. After playing the ball in, he played it off a defender and got behind the keeper, setting him up to send it right into the back of the net to put the Mustangs up, 4-1.
 
The lead pushed to four in the 75th minute. Sitz was able to play it into the box after a corner kick, finding Ivan Silic to blast it into the net to make it a 5-1 Mustang advantage with time starting to run out.
 
Nikolovski made two saves and allowed just one goal to improve to 2-0 on the year with the win between the pipes. Marvin Mendez made 11 stops for Montgomery, but yielded five goals to shoulder the loss.
 
Worm registered a hat trick with three goals in Thursday's victory. Sitz contributed three assists in the win. Nunn and Silic provided the other two goals, while Gartmann registered an assist.
 
The Mustangs held a significant 28-4 advantage in total shots on Thursday, including a 16-3 edge in shots on goal. They also held the lead in corner kicks, 6-5.
 
Monroe will now host the East District Championship game on Sunday, May 23, at Joseph F. Fosina Field (Flowers Park football field) in New Rochelle. They will play the winner of No. 20 Harcum College and Frederick Community College. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 36 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports program, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 17 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 Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs).