MONMOUTH, Ill. - Behind a historic offensive performance, the Illinois Wesleyan University men's soccer team concluded its three-game road trip with a 6-3 win against Monmouth College, Wednesday, Sept. 7.  The win boosted IWU's record to 1-1-1 on the year, while MC dipped to 0-3-1.

Illinois Wesleyan's six goals marked the most by the Titans since blanking Earlham, 6-0, Sept. 22, 2018. The goal total also ranks tied for fourth-most in program history. The offensive eruption featured goals by sophomore Justin Hart (Morton, Ill.-Morton), juniors, CJ Rodriguez (Santa Barbara, Calif.-Dos Pueblos), Sasha Tylnyy (Wheeling, Ill.-Buffalo Grover), and Gavin Smith (Seattle, Wash.-Eastside Preparatory School), along with seniors Dane Hoare (Chicago, Ill.-Von Steuben) and Dorian Lesiuk (Palatine, Ill.-Fremd). Rodriguez added a pair of assists, with Hoare, Smith, and sophomore Declan Nugent (Naperville, Ill.-Nequa Valley) tallying one each.

Defensively, sophomore Spencer Fulton (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) and freshman Brayden Gemaehlich (Fort Collins, Colo.-Fossil Ridge) split time between the posts. Fulton made two saves in the first 45. Gemaehlich made one stop in his debut, as he faced six shots in the second 45 en route to his first collegiate win.

Trailing in the early goings, IWU welcomed four unanswered goals to stake a 4-2 lead minutes into the second half. The Scots closed the deficit to one, 4-3, before the Titans added two additional goals within the last five minutes of the game, to claim the first win of the season. 

Monmouth jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in the first 26 minutes of play before Illinois Wesleyan's attack broke through. After the Scots capitalized on a free kick, the Titans turned around and scored 17 seconds later as Rodriguez delivered a great ball from a corner to find Hart for IWU's first goal of the afternoon, as well as the first of the season for Hart.

With the deficit cut in half, 2-1, the Green and White continued to fire away, eventually notching the equalizer around the 36-minute mark. This time, it was Rodriguez who found the back of the net off the assist by Hoare. 

Just two minutes later, the duo teamed up for another tally as Rodriguez found Hoare in space on a breakaway. With the Scots keeper off his line, Hoare scored to give Illinois Wesleyan its first lead of the day, 3-2. 

The goal capped the first half scoring, as the Titans went into the break leading by one. IWU recorded 12 shots in the opening 45 to MC's five, leading to an 8-4 edge in shots on goal.

A goalkeeper swap by the Scots at half did little to slow down the Green and White's offensive attack. Just 32 seconds into the second half, Tylnyy notched his first goal of the season by taking advantage of a two-on-one rush to double IWU's advantage, 4-2. 

The Titans and Fighting Scots packed in most of the action during the last 10 minutes of the game. At the 81st-minute mark, Monmouth scored its third and final goal of the match to close the gap back to one, 4-3. With five minutes remaining, Smith widened the lead, 5-3. Rounding out the scoring for the Green and White, Lesiuk finalized the defeat with an upper 90 goal assisted by Nugent, a first in his career, to end the match 6-3 for the Titans. 

The Green and White will look towards its home opener Saturday, Sept. 10 with a date against Aurora University. The match is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. at Neis Field in Bloomington, Ill. and will serve as the nightcap of a soccer triple header. The IWU women's soccer team takes on Wartburg College at 11 a.m., followed by a neutral site match between Dominican University and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at 1:30 p.m., before the Titans and Spartans battle.