The Monmouth College men's soccer team took an early lead and scored a season-high three goals, but lost to Illinois Wesleyan 6-3 at home on Wednesday. 

The game was scoreless after 17 minutes when Hiroto Monden (Sapporo, Japan) took a pass from Tanner Viren (East Moline, Illinois) and blasted a shot from the left wing into the top-right corner of the goal. The ball bounced around for a few seconds as both teams scrambled but the referee indicated the goal was good and Monmouth led 1-0. 

Eight minutes later, Wyatt Mayor (Galesburg, Illinois) made it 2-0. Cam Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) hit the cross for the assist and Mayor went down the middle of the goal to give the Scots a 2-0 lead. 

The Titans got on the board in the 26th minute and tied the game 10 minutes later. They took a 3-2 lead with less than seven minutes to play in the half. 

"The guys worked hard but at the same time made a few mental mistakes and they capitalized on them," said coach Ian Hatleli. "Looking forward to this weekend, the boys need to come together and do our jobs, work hard for 90 minutes and come together as a team."

Both teams switched goalkeepers at halftime in the non-conference tilt. Illinois Wesleyan doubled the lead just 47 seconds into the second half to lead 4-2. 

Anderson headed in a cross from Reid Sondgeroth (Mapleton, Illinois) with 8:40 left to play to get the Scots back within one. Moments later the Scots had a breakaway but Anderson's goal went just over the crossbar. 

The Titans put the game away with two goals in the final 5:!3 to win 6-3. 

"We scored three goals because we committed to going forward," said Hatleli "That's the difference. If we commit to going forward we can score goals. If we don't, it's going to be a tough day for us."

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Marcos Garibay (Waukegan, Illinois) started in goal and made five saves…Christopher Zavala (New Lenox, Illinois) had two saves in the second half…Illinois Wesleyan outshot the Scots 17-11 and shots on goal were 13-6…Mayor led the Scots with two shots on goal…Anderson had both a goal and an assist to lead the way with three points…Monden has scored in two straight games and leads the team with two goals on the season…The Scots head to the Robbie Dreher Classic in Crawfordsville, Indiana this weekend…Monmouth will play Webster on Saturday and Fontbonne on Sunday…The next home game will be at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 19 against Coe College.