The women’s lacrosse team failed to achieve a win this week, dropping contests to Fairfield University on Wednesday, April 5 and Canisius College on Saturday, April 8.
Wednesday’s matchup ended a two game winning streak for the Hawks as they fell 13-5 to Fairfield in Connecticut. The Stags broke open scoring but that goal was quickly answered by junior midfielder Caroline Corbliss, assisted by senior midfielder Claudia LaMarca.
That would be the extent of scoring for the Hawks for a substantial amount of time. The Stags went to work crafting a five goal run over the remainder of the half to put themselves up 6-1. Fairfield continued to pad that lead early in the second half, tallying another goal at the 28:31 mark, giving themselves a six goal advantage.
Monmouth flashed some life at this point by netting two goals within two minutes. The goals came courtesy of LaMarca and freshman attacker Nicole Ceraso. However, the Stags quickly stamped out any chance of a comeback by stringing together five unanswered goals to make the score 12-3 with about 10 minutes to go.
The Hawks salvaged two more goals before the end. Those goals came from senior attacker Carly Sane and Corbliss, who scored her second of the game. However, the game was never in question as they Hawks overall struggled in all aspects.
“Today’s game came as a result of lack of fundamental throwing and catching,” Head Coach Eileen Ghent said. “Fairfield, and every other team in our league, is very talented and took advantage of our mistakes. I am most proud of our attitude and effort to never give up. That has been constant this season and I believe it can be attributed to our captains and leaders.”
Not to be overlooked in the loss was the play of sophomore goalkeeper Riley Brager, who made 13 saves and her play kept the game relatively close. The Stags outshot 36-12 and without Brager’s play, the game would have been more lopsided in the score department.
“(Freshman midfielder) Chloe Novak made a big difference for us in the second half on the draws,” Ghent said. “That gave us many more opportunities. Caroline was a force on both sides of the ball and really has become a leader for us while Riley was very solid and continues to make saves in big moments.”
The highly talented Canisius College team overwhelmed the Hawks on Saturday afternoon at Hesse Field. The Golden Griffins have won the past six Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournaments and are ranked 35th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Rating Percentage Index (RPI). When the clock reached zero, the scoreboard read 18-3 Griffins, and the result was never in question.
The Hawks were able to keep the Griffins off the scoreboard for the first eight minutes, largely in part to Brager. However, as soon as Canisius put their first on the board, the flood gates opened. The Griffins ran off seven straight goals before senior attacker Olivia Higson scored to put the Hawks on the board. When the half concluded, the Hawks were facing a six goal deficit.
Canisius smothered all hoped of a comeback by burying eight straight goals with four of them coming in the first five minutes. The Hawks would not register another goal until the 4:43 mark in thanks to senior attacker Alexa Smith. Monmouth would add one more with a second left on the clock to make the final score 18-3, Canisius.
Ghent offered her message to the team after the game, “Our message is that the most important part of the season is still ahead of us. Right now, we have a week to work on what we need to work on, which is mostly the draw and our stick skills before Niagara and we will be ready come Saturday.”
Not to be lost in the final score was the fact that Monmouth was able to make the game competitive in the first half. In large part to another impressive Brager performance. Brager made eight saves in the first half to give her team a fighter’s chance and now has 108 on the season.
Monmouth now stands at 2-2 in MAAC play. They will look to get back to their winning ways as they will travel to Lewiston, NY to take on Niagara on Saturday, April 15 at 11 a.m.
PHOTO COURTESY of Karlee Sell
