Schroeder Scores Twice as Scots Beat Greenville

Monmouth knocks off Panthers 3-1

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/21/2023) — The Monmouth College men's soccer team recorded a season-high three goals and knocked off Greenville University 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon. The home win in the non-conference finale leads the Scots into MWC play this weekend.

Greenville had the best opportunities early but they rattled the crossbar with one shot and then Monmouth goalkeeper Christopher Zavala (New Lenox, Illinois) made a diving save. Monmouth got the attack going in the 23rd minute and took the lead. Kristofer Ruiz-Camarena (El Paso, Texas) broke through the defense and found Branyon Heard (St. Louis, Missouri). Heard slid a pass across the 18 and Montgomery Schroeder (Harrisonville, Missouri) scored on a low-driving shot into the bottom-left corner of the goal. The goal is the first of the season for Schroeder and the second of his Monmouth career.

"Getting that first goal was huge for us," said head coach Ian Hatleli. "Then to not give up anything the rest of the half was just massive."

Zavala made four saves in the first half and gave way to freshman Alejandro Zamarripa (El Paso, Texas) at halftime. The game was still 1-0 when Matthew Hipolito (Plainfield, Illinois) drew a foul in the 57th minute. Ruiz-Camarena stepped up and buried a free kick goal into the bottom-right corner to give the Scots a 2-0 lead. The goal is the team-leading third of the season for Ruiz-Camarena.

"Kris took the time over the summer to make sure he can put those in the back of the net and it is showing now," said Hatleli. "We are dangerous in different areas and we just have to keep pushing now."

Monmouth kept the pressure going and won a corner kick in the 64th minute. Heard took the corner and put it to the back post as Schroeder flew in with a leaping kick to score his second goal of the game. Zamarripa made three saves but the Panthers scored in the final minute to get on the board.

"Today we proved that we can play a total 90 minutes without making simple mistakes and hopefully we can continue that on Saturday," said Hatleli. "We needed to prove to ourselves we could do what was needed to win and hopefully we did that today.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The three goals are a season-high for the Scots. Monmouth scored three goals in a game on three occasions last year, all in September. Two of those games were at home, against Illinois Wesleyan and Finlandia. Monmouth has a pair of multi-goal games this season with Ruiz-Camarena scoring twice at Upper Iowa last week and Schroeder scoring twice on Wednesday. Tanner Viren (East Moline, Illinois), Nathan Braun (Clancy, Montana), Logan Corgan (Geneseo, Illinois) and Hipolito played all 90 minutes. Schroeder's other career goal came in the final game of the 2022 season, at home against Lawrence. Heard has a team-best two assists. The Scots begin Midwest Conference play at 4 p.m. Saturday at Lawrence in Appleton, Wisconsin.