The women’s lacrosse team lost their second home game of the season, 12-6, to the Lafayette Leopards on Wed., Feb. 26. With the loss, the Hawks decline to 0-3 while the Leopards improve to 2-2.
Leading the blue and white were junior midfielder Allison Stathius, junior attacker Emily Barbieri, and sophomore midfielder Marial Pierce, all of whom finished with two points.
Lafayette was led by Laura Klieber and Carlianne McCabe’s who scored three goals apiece in the contest.
The Leopards pulled away with an early lead as they scored three goals in the first six minutes of play. Klieber started off the game with an unassisted goal at the 26:28 mark in the first. She then followed up with another goal just 36 seconds later, to increase the Leopards lead to 2-0. Shortly after that, Lafayette scored again on a free-position shot from McCabe with 24:01 left in the half.
However, the Hawks would make it interesting climbing to within one in the first half but would not be able to tie it up over the final 30 minutes.
MU put one away with a goal from Barbieri with an assist from senior and captain of the team, Cassie Campasano. Klieber, however, scored her third goal of the game to increase their lead to 4-1 with just under 15 minutes remaining in the first half.
Pierce and junior attacker Meaghan Hess scored back-to-back goals to bring the blue and white to within one as the scoreboard read 8:31 left in the first half. The Leopards added two goals in the final three minutes to go into halftime with a 6-3 lead.
The second half began with a fast pace as McCabe scored just 90 seconds into the frame. Barbieri responded with a goal of her own less than a minute later to keep the margin at three.
Lafayette’s Kirsten Wihelmsen put the game out of reach when she scored back-to-back goals to increase the lead 9-4. MU’s Stathius and senior attacker Danielle Rakowitz added two goals in the final minutes of play, but they were matched by Lafayette thus ending the game at 12-6.
“The little things hurt us today,” said Monmouth head coach Denise Wescott. “Things like giving up eight meter shots, throwing the ball away too much, not finishing some of our shooting opportunities, and being called for a few yellow cards. We gave Lafayette too many chances on our mistakes and those little things cost us an opportunity to win.”
The Hawks will have a 10 day hiatus before they return to action on Saturday, March 8 as they host the Wagner Seahawks. The game will begin at 1 pm.
PHOTOS COURTESY of Jim Reme
