Scots Beat Vikings on Senior Day

Nico Esparon sets Monmouth career assist record

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/30/2022) — The Monmouth College men's soccer team fell behind early but rallied for a 2-1 season-ending win on Saturday over Lawrence University. This marks the second straight season the Scots (4-11-2, 2-6-0) have won against the Vikings and the sixth straight win in the series dating back to 2015.

The Vikings scored in the 13th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Monmouth turned the pressure up and got even with 5:41 to play in the half. Nico Esparon (St. Denis, Reunion, France) scored his sixth goal of the season, on an assist by Cameron Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois).

The game was still tied at halftime and the teams had been issued a combined three yellow cards in the first half. Just 2:05 into the second half, the Scots took the lead. Esparon became the school's career assists leader as he put a corner kick on a platter for Montgomery Schroeder (Harrisonville, Missouri) in front of the goal. The sophomore didn't miss, heading the ball into the back of the net to give the Scots a 2-1 lead.

Two more yellow cards followed and then with 31:08 to play, Schroeder was sent off with his second yellow. With 16:06 to play, Lawrence went down to 10 men as well with a second yellow card to Derek Morales. The Scots still led 2-1 when both teams got another player sent off with 2:03 to play. The Scots lost Hiroto Monden (Sapporo, Japan) while Konstantinos Fardellas went off for the Vikings. The game ended with Monmouth winning 2-1 in a 9-on-9 situation.

Lawrence out shot Monmouth 13-11 for the game. Scots goalkeeper Dennis Turdean (Chicago, Illinois) made nine saves. Seven Monmouth seniors were honored before the contest.