Viren Scores but Scots Drop Finale at Grinnell

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/25/2023) — The Monmouth College men's soccer team gave up two goals in the first 15 minutes and lost the season finale 6-1 at Grinnell College on Wednesday. The Scots finish the season at 3-11-2 overall, 2-4-2 in Midwest Conference play.

With both teams facing a must-win to stay in the MWC tournament hunt, the Scots gave up a goal 3:27 into the match. Grinnell made it 2-0 less than 10 minutes later and added a third goal in the 36th minute. Carter Breuchaud (Lebanon, Illinois) and Logan Corgan (Geneseo, Illinois) had shots on goal in the first half.

Grinnell made it 4-0 in the 56th minute and added another with 9:17 to play. Monmouth drew a penalty kick off a corner with 4:59 to play. Senior Tanner Viren (East Moline, Illinois) slammed home the penalty kick for his second goal of the season. Grinnell scored the final goal of the game with 59 seconds left. Christopher Zavala (New Lenox, Illinois) made five saves in the game for the Scots.

The Scots were picked ninth out of nine teams in the preseason coaches poll. Depending on results this weekend, Monmouth will finish anywhere from sixth to eighth. Last year the Scots were 2-6-0 in conference play.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Grinnell out-shot Monmouth 29-15 and shots on goal were 11-5. Zavala, Viren, Mathew Hipolito (Plainfield, Illinois), Kristofer Ruiz-Camarena (El Paso, Texas), Corgan and Branyon Heard (St. Louis, Missouri) played all 90 minutes. Viren has played all 90 minutes in 36 straight appearances, dating back to early in the 2021 season. Ruiz-Camarena led the Scots with five shots on Wednesday while Breuchaud had three. Ruiz-Camarena led the Scots with six goals and 13 points on the season. He also led the team in shots (33) and shots on goal (17)... Heard led the team with five assists, tied for 11th on the Monmouth single-season list. Zavala made 100 saves on the season. He is the 12th goalkeeper with at least 100 saves in a season and the first since 2013.