Box Score PHILADELPHIA – Junior forward Kenny Monfort (Spring Valley, N.Y.) scored his first goal of the season with six minutes, 22 seconds, to play in regulation time, snapping a 0-0 tie and lifting the Felician University men's soccer team to a 2-0 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over host Holy Family University on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Field.
Felician (5-7-2, 4-3-2 CACC) surpassed its victory total for all of last season, when it was 4-11-2. The Golden Falcons' five wins are their most since 2012.
The victory, along with other CACC results on Saturday, ascended Felician into sixth-place in the 13-team CACC. The top eight teams at season's end will qualify for the conference playoffs. The Golden Falcons have three games remaining, including Tuesday's match at seventh-place Post University.
Monfort was an all-CACC honoree as a freshman in 2015 after recording 10 goals and two assists. But he has been beset by injuries since that time. He was limited to two goals last season, and had been held scoreless in 2017 until putting the Golden Falcons ahead in the 84th minute on Saturday. Sophomore Bashkim Saiti (Teaneck, N.J.) was credited with his first career assist on the play.
The first half was mostly bereft of serious offensive chances. Each team produced its best opportunity off of a corner kick, but both Felician sophomore Conor McKenna (Navan, Ireland) and Holy Family freshman Davis Habilaj (Philadelphia, Pa.) pushed shots wide in the middle stages of the period. Statistically, only five shot attempts were awarded (3-2 Felician).
Play opened up slightly in the early stages of period two. Felician senior goalkeeper John Burns (Saddle Brook, N.J.) was forced to make two saves in the first nine minutes of the half. On the other end, McKenna had a shot blocked and several other Golden Falcon offerings missed the frame. Two minutes before Monfort broke through, a header by Tiger freshman Mike Smith (Southampton, Pa.) sailed over the crossbar.
As the game clock wound down, HFU earned a corner kick. A header by Habilaj was saved by Burns, but the netminder could not corral the ball, resulting in another corner. This time, the hosts came up empty. Felician rushed the ball up the field and Kevin Valdivia (Hawthorne, N.J.) scored with 17 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
Burns finished with four saves to earn his second shutout of the season. Felician owned an 11-7 shot advantage, and the teams evenly split 12 corners. Nine yellow cards and one red card were issued in the contest, with all but one of the bookings coming after halftime.
