West Long Branch, NJ – Junior forward
Noah Amissah (London, England / Orleans Park) broke a scoreless tie in the 56th minute with a bending shot in the upper right corner to give Manhattan the 1-0 victory over Monmouth in the 2018 MAAC opener.
The Jaspers win their fifth straight, moving to 1-0 in the MAAC and 8-1 overall. The Hawks stumble to 0-1 in conference play and 2-5-1 overall.
Manhattan controlled the ball in the left corner as senior forward
Lucas Da Silva (West Palm Beach, FL / Palm Beach Atlantic) passed to sophomore forward
Berti Fourrier (Marseille, France / IFC Marseille). Fourrier fed Amissah, who beat two Hawk defenders and turned to fire the shot past goalie Sean Murray for the only goal of the contest.
The Jaspers' MAAC home opener is up next as the Jaspers welcome Saint Peter's (3-5-1 | 0-1 MAAC) to Riverdale on Saturday, September 29 at 6:00 pm.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The Jaspers have won their MAAC opener in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2001 and 2002.
- The five-game winning streak is the longest in over 25 years for Manhattan men's soccer. The program record is seven, set in 1976.
- The Jaspers' four road wins are the most for the program since they won five away from Gaelic Park in 2001.
- Manhattan goalkeeper Marcellin Gohier (Nantes, France / CENS) only needed to make two saves to earn his 12th total shutout of his career, which moves him into a tie with Andy Hlushko '83 for most in program history.
- This is the first time in the series history that the Jaspers have posted consecutive wins over the Hawks.
- Thanks to the second-half strike, Manhattan has scored 77 percent 14/18) of their goals within the final 45 minutes.
- The Jaspers extend their shutout streak to 347:35 minutes.
- Monmouth ended the first half without recording a shot as Manhattan won the category 14-6.
- Amissah, making his first start since August 30, notched his second goal of the season and led the team with three shots on goal.
- Fourrier paced the offense with a career-high five shots and now leads the team with 10 points this year.
FIRST HALF
- In the 12th minute, junior captain Tristan Doran (Jupiter, FL / Benjamin) attempted his second straight cross, and senior forward Lucas Da Silva (West Palm Beach, FL / Palm Beach Atlantic) met it with a header that Hawk keeper Sean Murray saved.
- The Jaspers snuffed out a potential Monmouth cross in the 17th minute, intercepting the ball before it elevated into the box.
- In the 27th minute, sophomore Fourrier dashed to the right end line, but the Hawks sliced away his cross to Amissah. Doran threw it in afterwards, and Amissah turned on a shot 10 yards away that didn't go.
- Freshman midfielder Thomas Hitchins (Raleigh, NC / Wakefield) sought his first career goal two minutes later with a laser shot 20 yards away that sailed wide.
- Manhattan kept up the pressure in the 31st minute as Da Silva tried to fire a close-range shot, but Murray came out of net to block it.
SECOND HALF
- Manhattan's first chance came in the 53rd minute, when Hitchins drew a foul that became a Monmouth yellow card. Fourrier proceeded to strike a free kick 25 yards out that went to the Monmouth keeper.
- The Hawks recorded their shot in the 55th minute when Alex Hajj rifled the ball high.
- In the 58th minute, following another Hawks yellow card, junior defender Adrien Awana fired a 30-yard free kick that nailed the crossbar.
- Monmouth's best opportunity arrived eight minutes later as Zachary Pereira headed a cross just above the pipe.
- Da Silva created space for his own shot in the 77th minute, but curved it slightly wide left.
- Gohier made his first save in the 79th minute and his last with six minutes to play.
