Hawks Start Northeast Conference Season 2-0
On Wednesday March 13 the Hawks (4-6, 2-0) defeated St. Joseph’s University (5-2) in overtime by the final score of 9-8 at Kessler Field. Freshmen midfielder Marial Pierce led the way with four goals and a career-high five points.
These teams battled back and forth all game long with the largest lead being two by St. Joe’s coming right before the end of the first half. With a 4-2 SJU lead senior midfielder Erica Abendschoen and Pierce scored back to back goals to tie the game with 7:49 remaining in the first half.
The blue and white scored three minutes into the second half to cut the lead to one when senior midfielder Sam Savona scored at the 27:40 mark. Only 15 seconds later, Pierce scored to tie the game up at six. MU took its first lead of the game when sophomore midfielder Emily Barbieri scored off an assist from Abendschoen with 19:12 left in regulation.
St. Joe’s answered right back to tie the game up 7-7 with a goal from Abby Ananian. She scored again to put SJU up 8-7 with 2:58 to play. Pierce answered back to tie it with just under two minutes left. With 10 seconds left in regulation St. Joe’s had a chance to win it, but a save by MU net minder Katie Donohoe forced OT.
Early on in OT, SJU had a shot deflected by MU’s defense, and then Donohoe picked up the ball and fed it up field where the Hawks called a timeout. Pierce scored coming out of the timeout with 2:01 remaining. With 40 seconds on the clock, St. Joe’s had a chance to tie the game with a free position shot that sailed wide.
Head Coach Denise Wescott said, “I think more than anything we believed in ourselves t oday. I n t he h uddle o ur team said ‘we can do this.’ We needed to score at the end and Marial did it. She was left open and the goalie overstepped it and it was nice to see that she didn’t hesitate.”
Donohoe made five saves as Saint Joe’s outshot MU 20-16. SJU’s Giblin made four saves in the game.
The Hawks lost their final non-conference game to Canisius College (5-3) on Tuesday March 19 b y t he score of 1 4-9. Kaleigh Gibbons led MU with five points, on two goals and three assists.
Canisius started off the game hot as senior midfielder Morgan Lindsey scored four unanswered goals to jump out to a 6-2 lead with 15:11 left in the opening frame. Marial Pierce scored the two goals to keep MU in the game.
The Hawks went on a run scoring four straight goals from the 12:17 to the 4:22 mark to tie the game up 6-6. Sophomore midfielder Allison Stathius started the rally by scoring her eighth goal of the season. M U t hen climbed within one, as Sam Savona scored two straight goals, which came 21 seconds apart and both were assisted by Gibbons.
Gibbons scored a goal on a free position shot that tied the game. Golden Griffin Tori Quinn regained the lead as she scored from a free position shot with 2:49 left in the first half.
However, the Golden Griffins increased their halftime lead to 10-6 with three goals coming within the first six minutes of the second half. Canisius followed that up with three more goals in a 90-second span, increasing their lead to 13-6.
Gibbons scored to end the run at 15:06, but MU would only score just two more times in the final minutes to lose 14-9.
The Hawks outshot Canisius but Griffin net minder Kayla Scully stopped 11 to MU Katie Donohoe’s five.
On Friday, March 22, the blue and white opened up their Northeast Conference (NEC) play with a dominating win over LIU Brooklyn on Kessler Field. The final score was 17-4. Marial Pierce led all scorers with four goals.
Savona scored the first goal of the game at the 27:53 mark. MU scored three more goals over the next four minutes, with a pair from Pierce. Blackbird Shakoya Smith scored a goal while up a man to cut the Hawks lead to 4-1.
The Hawks answered with three more goals from three different players. L IU scored back to back goals to trail 7-3, but the blue and white scored three more goals to lead 10-4 at halftime.
The Hawk’s defense pitched a second half shutout, with seven different players scoring in the 17-4 victory. Wescott said, “We want to try to be as strong as we can be in the NEC this year so starting out with a win is key. It was great to see us play well and get a lot of different people in the game and a lot of players on the scoreboard, which shows the depth of our talent.”
It was the lowest goal total the Hawks have given up since the NEC championship game last season when they allowed just three against Mount St. Mary’s. MU is now 11-0 all-time against LIU Brooklyn. The Hawks heavily outshot the Blackbirds 33-6, and held the draw control 16-8.
The Hawks defeated Wagner College (4-6, 0-2) Sunday at Kessler Field. The final score was 12- 7. T he Hawks were led by senior attacker Cassie Campasano who scored a career-high five goals, all in the second half.
Wagner started off the game quickly scoring in the first two minutes. Sophomore Allison Stathius tied the game at the 25:53 mark. The Seahawks not only had the better of play, but led most of the first half.
Wescott stated, “We started off slow and gave Wagner opportunities which they took advantage of. During halftime, we talked about settling in, playing our game more and getting better looks offensively. In the second half we started to push a little more, went after draws better, we pushed the ball up the field and ran the fast break well.”
Wagner went into halftime with a 4-2 lead. The blue and white would erupt and score eight unanswered goals in the first 21 minutes of the second half, to gain a 1 0-4 lead. During that span Campasano scored three straight goals, including the goal that gave the Hawks the lead.
Savona cut the lead to one with a free position shot at the 28:13 mark. Gibbons tied the game up less than two minutes later off an assist from junior defender Kelly Dalton.
Then Campasano had her goal stretch to put the Hawks 7-4 with 18:05 left. MU scored three more unanswered goals. Wagner ended the Hawks run with 6:56 left in the second.
Gibbons, however, answered right back three minutes later with a goal of her own.
Wagner scored two more times in the final two plus minutes, and Campasano scored her fifth with one minute left to make the score 12-7.
The blue and white outshot the Seahawks 34-18 as Hawks net minder Katie Donohoe saved nine in the win.
The Hawks travel to face Mount St. Mary’s in a rematch of last season’s NEC title game, on Friday March 29. Start time is scheduled at 1:00 pm.
PHOTO COURTESY of MU Photography
