The Hawks (6-6; 5-0) won their fourth straight Northeast Conference game Friday night by dominating Robert Morris (7-6; 3-3) 14-3.
The blue and white were led by freshman midfielder Marial Pierce who led all scorers with a career-high five points, including four goals and an assist. Pierce attributes her success this season to her teammates. “I think it’s just working with different teammates and knowing what they’re going to do and working on our chemistry and then how we’ve been scoring,” Pierce said.
Sophomore goalie Katie Donohoe had a season-high 13 saves as the Hawks defense only allowed three goals; the lowest margin of the season.
MU started the game off in control when senior attacker Cassie Campasano scored just 19 seconds into the game. Pierce added a goal two minutes later which increased MU’s lead to 2-0.
Then the Hawks scored three goals in a three minute span including another from Pierce and Campasano and one from sophomore midfielder Allison Stathius. She also had a big day finishing with two goals and an assist.
The blue and white scored seven unanswered goals until Robert Morris answered back with a goal from Talia Waskowicz who scored at the 7:14 minute mark.
The Hawks ended the half scoring a goal with just 1:57 left to play. Junior midfielder Kaleigh Gibbons assisted freshman midfielder Michelle Gonzales on the goal. MU took an 8-1 lead going into halftime.
Robert Morris scored two goals to open up the second half but the Hawks were just too much as they scored six unanswered goals in the final 16 minutes to win 14-3.
The Hawks outshot the Colonials 27-23, as both teams committed 16 turnovers. MU is now 7-2 all-time against RMU.
Head Coach Denise Wescott was happy with her defense as she said, “It started with us getting the draw, Kristina did a great job getting possession for us. We ran the fast break well; Marial and Cassie finished some of our fast breaks, which was great. Our defense played very well, Katie had a lot of saves and our defense put a lot of pressure on their drives. We did a great job shutting them down. Overall it was a great team effort; we won because we worked together today.”
Pierce explained how the Hawks have been able to bounce back after starting off the season 0-5. “The teams we played in the beginning have made us raise our level of play, they made us play faster, we’ve also cut down on our mistakes and we have really figured out how to win,” Pierce added.
MU traveled to St. Francis on Sunday for a scheduled matchup at noon.
The Hawks defeated St. Francis University (4-9; 1-5) by the final score of 15-8 to remain undefeated in NEC play. Gibbons tied a career high with seven points on three goals and four assists. Pierce chipped in with three goals as well.
St. Francis scored first, and held onto that lead for eight minutes until Pierce scored her 23rd goal of the season to tie the game with 17:01 in the first half. The Hawks rallied and had a 4-1 lead with goals from Campasano, Stathius, and Pierce. The Red Flash bounced back and tied the game at four going into the second half.
Rachel Larson scored her second goal of the game to give the Red Flash the lead 5-4. However, Campasano tied the game when she scored off an assist from Gibbons with 22:12 to play in the game.
Gibbons gave MU the lead seven minutes later when she scored off a pass from sophomore midfielder Emily Barbieri. Campasano scored her third goal of the game, her 23rd on the season, while teammate Gibbons was serving a yellow-card penalty to give the blue and white the lead 9-8.
Ninety seconds later Pierce scored again to double the Hawks’ lead with 8:24 left to play. MU added three more goals over a span of 83 seconds for an 11-6 lead.
Each team scored a pair of goals in the final few minutes and the blue and white remained unbeaten in conference play, winning 15-8. The Hawks outshot the Red Flash 27-21 and won 18 of 25 draws versus St. Francis.
MU will try to keep their unbeaten streak alive as they return to attack on Kessler Field, Friday, April 12 at 3:00 pm against Quinnipiac.
PHOTO COURTESY of Danielle Richards
Correction:
In the April 10, 2013 issue of The Outlook, the picture of Kaleigh Gibbons on page 26 was falsely attributed to MU Photography. Credit belongs to Danielle Richards, not MU Photography.
