After earning just one win through their first eight games of the season, Men’s Lacrosse has now won their last two, most recently with an 11-6 victory over Manhattan at Kessler Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The win kept Monmouth’s season alive, as a loss would have eliminated them from a chance at qualifying for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament.
“I am really proud of our effort,” said Head Coach Brian Fisher. “Our team showed toughness and grit and we battled adversity this week with some injuries to key guys. We played with great energy today and it was probably our best performance of the year. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
With 10:44 on the clock, sophomore midfielder Casey Kimmel opened the scoring for Monmouth with a powerful strike from long distance as the hosts edged their way in front.
Manhattan, however, answered with four-straight goals to take a comfortable lead.
Monmouth responded even more emphatically, going on a 7-0 run to lead 8-4 with 8:05 left in the third quarter.
The visitors would break the scoring streak with a goal at the 5:01 mark, but the Hawks scored another three to add some space to their lead before the Jaspers scored the final goal of the game with 4:29 left to go in the fourth.
Sophomore midfielder Brock Anderson was amongst Monmouth’s top performers in the 11-6 win, scoring his first career hat trick and improving his season goal total to eight.
Two of his goals against Manhattan came via high-powered strikes from distance where he cut in from the right and shot across his body from the left.
Senior attacker Griffin Figel earned his second four-point game in a row as he registered two goals and two assists.
“We were playing for our season today,” said Figel. “We have a lot of upperclassmen, myself included, and the guys just really played their hearts out. Playoff mode, it was a must-win, a lot of guys stepped up – we had a couple of injuries. A lot of younger guys stepped up for us older guys.”
With the win, Monmouth improves to 3-7 on the season and 2-3 in MAAC play.
The Hawks will hope to continue their recent success when they face Quinnipiac (6-5, 3-2 MAAC) in Hamden, CT on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the penultimate game of the regular season.
PHOTO TAKEN by Karlee Sell
