Monmouth's defense stiffened after a quick Illinois Wesleyan surge to open the game, but couldn't contain the Titans over the long haul, suffering a 13-1 setback Wednesday night at April Zorn Memorial Stadium.
 
IWU scored three goals in the first five minutes before the Scots' defense denied the Titans for nearly the next 15 minutes. Wesleyan surged again just before the half to put Monmouth in a 7-0 hole from which they couldn't recover.
 
The second half played out much like the first with an early and late surge by the visitors. In between, Kara-Jade Gordon slammed in the Scots' lone goal at the 17:46 mark for her sixth goal of the season in just two games.
 
Olivia Matlock turned in a 12-save effort for the Scots. Offensively, Monmouth took five free position shots to the Titans' one while IWU held just a slight 8-7 edge on draw controls.
 
Monmouth resumes league play Saturday with an 11 a.m. contest at Illinois Tech.