The Hawks started their weekend on Friday, Sept. 18 with a loss to the Temple Owls 4-2. The Owls jumped out to a 1-0 lead Friday afternoon. The Hawks would respond when senior midfielder Cori Allen put Monmouth back into the game with two goals in the first half. This was Allen’s first career multi-goal game, which helped keep the game tied at two after one half of play. Not to be outdone, Temple’s Alyssa Delp registered a hat trick that propelled the Owls to victory over Monmouth on So Sweet A Cat Field.
After a tough loss on Friday MU shifted their focus to the visiting Towson Tigers. MU did a good job early of moving the ball through the midfield to create opportunities on offense, outshooting Towson 24-3, on Sunday afternoon.
An early goal from Towson triggered a response from MU as the Hawks went on to score three unanswered goals by three different players. The first tally came off the deflection of freshman midfielder Gab Girardi, who registered her first collegiate goal knotting the match at one. Allen, who assisted on MU’s first goal, knocked in the games second goal off a corner.
Junior midfielder Alyssa Ercolino sent the ball in the circle where junior defender Casey Hanna set up Allen for the go ahead score. This gave Allen three goals on the weekend, and helped MU take a 2-1 lead in the first half.
MU had 18 total corners in the game and Ercolino helped start and finish one in the 53rd minute of the game. Ercolino sent the ball into the circle where it was moved around until Allen sent the ball towards the net and Ercolino deflected the ball off her stick to give MU a 3-1 lead. The midfielder registered her second goal of the season. With the win MU snapped a four-game losing streak.
Towson had limited chances to get down the turf, as the play in the midfield was superb. Head Coach Carli Figlio said, “I think our offense started with our central players meaning Rachel Konowal as a center back, Cori Allen in the center mid, and Casey Hanna, even though she’s our deepest back, she creates a lot of attack for us. Because of those three girls, we were actually able to create some momentum.”
MU was able to spread the ball around resulting in multiple goals from multiple players. The Hawks controlled possession for most of the game giving MU options on the offensive side of the ball.
“Having three different people be able to score helps us build that confidence that we don’t have to just rely on one to two people,” said Coach Figlio.
Eight different Hawks have scored this year for Coach Figlio, with Cori Allen leading the way.
Over the weekend Allen shined for MU. Allen registered eight points in two games to bump up her season stats. Allen leads the team in both goals (five) and points (12.) She doesn’t take all the credit.
Allen said, “I have to credit my success to my teammates, because they were there for my assists to put the ball in the net, and they were there to support me throughout the game.”
MU moves to 3-5 on the season and now focuses their attention to Northeastern, as they take a trip to Massachusetts on Friday Sept. 25. They host the nationally-ranked University at Albany in West Long Branch on Sunday, Sept. 27.
The game against Albany will be a good test for MU as they face a team that reached the final-four last year.
This Hawks open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action Oct. 10.
PHOTO COURTESY of Taylor Jackson
