WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Ninth-ranked Monmouth dashed Mount St. Mary's Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament hopes with a 3-1 victory in men's soccer action on Friday. The Mount was eliminated from league playoff contention with the loss.

Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) scored the Mountaineers (6-10-1, 5-4-1 NEC) lone goal of the afternoon off an assist from Scott Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder). Mount St. Mary's became only the second NEC school to score against Monmouth this season. Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) made two saves in the loss.

Ryan Clark, Ryan Kinne and Chase Barbieri each scored for the Hawks (16-1-1, 8-1-1 NEC) and Bryan Meredith made one saves in the winning effort.

Monmouth scored two goals in the second half and never looked back to extend its unbeaten streak against the Mountaineers to seven games and end the Mount's hopes at a return trip to the postseason. Mount St. Mary's needed at least a tie to have a shot to make the tournament. The two teams faced each other for the first time since the Mount stunned the West Long Branch program in penalty kicks in the NEC Semifinals on the Great Lawn last year.

With the game tied at 1 after halftime, Kinne scored on a free kick from 25-yards out for to hand the Hawks the lead it would not relinquish at 51:28. Barbieri sealed the win when he found the twine off helpers from Drew Von Bargen and Christian Nogueira at 72:55 for a 3-1 advantage.

Clark got the scoring started in the match when he took a cross from the right side off the foot of RJ Allen and scored when the ball went off the cross bar and into the netting at 6:37 to hand Monmouth a 1-0 advantage.

Mount St. Mary's answered right back 13 minutes later when Phinith gave Wheeler a through ball into the box and nailed the shot into the near side for his eighth goal of the season to even the match at 1 at the 19:32 mark.

The Mount finishes the season 6-10-1 and 5-4-1 in league play. The squad recorded a winning league record for the ninth time in program history and notched five conference wins for the fifth time in team history.

Wheeler finished his second season in Emmitsburg with eight goals and one assist for 17 points and has registered 20 goals and four assists for 44 points in his two seasons at Mount St. Mary's. The 20 goals rank fifth in Mount Division I history and 11th in program history.