The footrace ended in a virtual tie, but thanks to some miscommunication among the Greyhounds, Foulke was able to head the ball past charging Lisbon goalie Jonah Sautter for the Mustangs’ first lead of Thursday’s game.
“I saw an opportunity and I took it. I finished,” Foulke said. “That goal pushed it to our advantage.”
Foulke’s goal gave the Mustangs the lead and the momentum, both of which they controlled for the final 30 minutes of a 2-1 victory over Lisbon in a battle of unbeaten Mountain Valley Conference rivals.
Foulke also assisted on Travis Hartford’s game-tying goal for Monmouth (5-0-0). Josh Huston had the lone goal for Lisbon (3-1-1).
Huston got the Greyhounds on the board first less than two minutes into the second half, but they would only muster on more shot on goal the rest of the half.
“We didn’t execute the game plan for 80 minutes,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “The game plan was to keep it short, don’t get long against these guys and hope to get ourselves into a position so we can get into an attack. When we’re going long, we’re not going to build an attack out of it, and that’s what happened today.”
Four minutes after Lisbon took the lead, Hartford headed in the equalizer on Foulke’s indirect kick.
“We considered changing our formation, but we were generating offense, even with (Lisbon’s) six defenders. So I decided not to,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said. “They play really well defensively. Dan always has his team playing hard and they play good defense. They made us work.”
The Mustangs outshot the Greyhounds, 30-9 for the game. Lisbon’s defense forced them to be patient, but Dovinsky never hesitated to go over the top to Foulke for the game-winner in the 49th minute.
“We talk all the time about touch the ball, pick your head up,” Fletcher said. “Nik’s doing that. He’s a solid rock back there.”
“Mat didn’t play particularly well in the first half, and he’s the type of kid that I can get after,” Fletcher added. “I got after him at halftime. You could see the difference in his game. He’s our engine. When he plays well, we play well.”
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