WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — Matt White seemed destined to kick — only he thought it’d be a soccer ball.

The Mars graduate is doing pretty well putting toe to football instead.

“I grew up playing soccer,” he said. “My family’s always been involved in the game and I was hoping to play in college.

“My freshman year at Mars, some of my friends on the football team wanted me to come out and kick for the team. My dad and I talked about it. He said if that’s what I wanted to do, go ahead and do it.”

White’s sister, Jordyn, is a junior defender on the Grove City College women’s soccer team. She was an all-conference player last year and has scored three goals and nine points this season.

Their father, Chris, was a stellar soccer player at Geneva College.

Matt went on to set seven kicking records with Mars football, including best single-season punting average (39.1), 53 PATs and 62 points in a season.

Now he is a sophomore at Monmouth University, where only recently he helped land the Hawks their first signature win in the Big South Conference.

White’s 35-yard field goal on the last play of regulation tied the game. His 37-yarder in overtime defeated No. 22 Liberty, 20-17, for Monmouth’s first-ever football victory over a ranked opponent.

For those exploits, he was named FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week.

“This is only our second year in the Big South and it’s one of the best conferences in the FCS,” Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan said. “Three teams in our league are ranked in the Top 25: Coastal Carolina at No. 1, Charleston Southern at No. 20 and Liberty at 22.

“This win gave our kids validation. It made them feel like we belong here.”

White agreed.

“I don’t know if it’s hit me yet,” he said of winning the national special team honor. “That seems so surreal to me. The big thing was we beat Liberty and that was a huge win for our program.

“I can’t focus on anything individual. I’m focused on our next game.”

White has proven he belongs as the Hawks’ kicker. Once Lucas Santangelo — Monmouth’s kicker last year — suffered a quad injury in preseason, White took over all of the team’s kicking duties.

He put three punts inside the 20-yard line in the win over Liberty. He has converted all 17 of his PATs and eight of 12 field goal attempts.

“Matt won the job kicking from placement during camp,” Callahan said. “Lucas was going to handle the kickoffs, but now Matt is doing that as well.

“He’s got a strong leg and he takes his craft very seriously. Matt is always here kicking before practice and stays afterward to work on it some more.

“I’d have no problem letting him try (a field goal) from 45 to 47 yards out,” Callahan added.

Bob Baker, a kicking coach who lives near the campus and has worked with NFL kickers, stops by practice once a week to work with White and Monmouth’s other kickers.

Besides that, White coaches himself.

“We have no licking coach on staff,” Callahan said.

White has booted a punt 68 yards, marking the longest punt in the Big South this season.

With two years of eligibility at Monmouth, White is looking forward to more memorable moments with the Hawks. The team (3-5)nearly realized one Saturday against top-ranked Coastal Carolina, losing 23-20 on a last-second field goal.

“I was used to kicking with no pads for years,” White said. “Once I put on a helmet, shoulder pads, pads on my thighs ... It took some getting used to.

“After a while, wearing that stuff became second-nature.”

Kicking clutch field goals is becoming the same.

“You’re trying a field goal to decide a game on the last play ... You’re either the hero or goat. That’s the life of a kicker,” Callahan said.

“Next time we put Matt in that situation, he can say to himself, ‘I can do this.’ He’s certainly proven that.”