WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Monmouth University men defeated Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent Saint Peter’s College, 3-1,  Saturday night.

With three games remaining, including two at home, the Hawks (5-8-2, 2-4-1) earned their fifth conference point.

After Saint Peter’s (2-10-2, 1-7-0) scored in the fifth minute, sophomore forward Donovan Pollock answered with his second goal of the season after taking the pass from redshirt senior Colin Stripling to make it 1-1.

Just before halftime, freshman Anes Mrkulic gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead after gathering the rebound in front and placing it inside the left post.

Senior Jake Areman put the game away in the 68th minute, as he scored his third goal of the season inside the left post after a teammate’s shot was blocked.

“We created a bunch of chances tonight and scored three goals,” head coach Robert McCourt said. “It’s the most we’ve created all season, so we got a just reward I think. No matter what happens, you just have to stay calm. When it gets into crunch time in these conference games, you just have to stay calm and good things are going to happen. We had three great finishes tonight, and John Antunes was unbelievable tonight creating in between the lines. All the credit goes to the guys tonight. We’ve been on the road a lot this year, so it’s always nice to have a home game in front of a great crowd.”

Monmouth will travel to Fairfield University Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.