Men's Soccer: Monteiro's Second Goal of the Weekend Sees Mac Past Laurier

Marauders improve to 2-0 on the season with 1-0 win at home.

Box Score Low on chances and drama, Sunday's match tilted in McMaster's favour in the second half, and the Marauders promptly snuffed any chance their second win of the season had to get away.

Matt Monteiro's 56th-minute goal was the difference, as the Marauders edged the Laurier Golden Hawks 1-0 at Ron Joyce Stadium to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Sunday marked Mac's second clean sheet in as many days, with Jesse DiDomenico saving both shots he faced in the win.

Working for an early marker, winger Sasha Ricciuti nearly created an opener when his cross narrowly missed the on-rushing Anand Sergeant in the seventh minute.

Three minutes later, it was the combination of Yordan Stoyanov and Dusan Kovacevic threatening the Laurier goal, with Stoyanov squaring the ball to Kovacevic, whose shot flashed just wide of the far post.

It was the visitors' turn to create danger in the 17th, as Nikola Miokovic was played through on goal, but couldn't tap his shot past DiDomenico.

Chances were few and far between as the first half wore on, and the two teams headed to their dressing rooms at the break without a goal on the board.

It was the home side who started brighter in the second, and the Marauders very nearly broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute, when Carlo Difeo played Stoyanov into space with a well-weighed through ball and his teammate's chip glanced the crossbar.

Three minutes later, McMaster found paydirt, with Monteiro grabbing his second goal in as many days, after Kovacevic took down a long ball and squared to him, leaving acres of space and an open net for Monteiro to side-foot into.

DiDomenico had to be alert in the 71st, as Gurjinder Garcha stepped into a rising drive that forced the McMaster keeper into a diving parry to his left, which he turned around the post for a corner.

Garcha was the point man once again when a glorious chance for a Laurier equalizer went begging in the 76th minute, wriggling free of his marker with the long ball bouncing to him, before woefully blazing his shot high and wide of the target.

NEXT UP: McMaster travels to London on Saturday, September 2 for a showdown with the Western Mustangs, before returning home on September 3 to battle the Windsor Lancers at Ron Joyce Stadium.

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