The Monmouth University women’s soccer team absolutely dominated their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponents this past week beating Iona on Wednesday and Niagara on Saturday by a combined 9-0 total.
On Wednesday the blue and white kicked off their week with a road win as fifth year forward Madie Gibson began the scoring with a 17th minute goal for her fifth of the season. This was the lone goal of the first half as the Hawks would prove to be much more efficient offensively after the intermission.
MU compiled four goals in the second half starting with senior midfielder Jess Johnson’s free kick 30 minutes out of the locker-room. Then senior forward Dana Scheriff found the back of the net seven minutes after to make it an insurmountable 3-0 advantage.
Sophomore forwards Alexis Marino and A’Liah Moore each added goals to the Monmouth cushion late in the second half resulting in the 5-0 final score.
“Our ability to stay focused and prepared on the road is clearly a strength of this group,” said Head Coach Krissy Turner. “It is exciting to see a variety of players score goals for us and another shutout is a credit to our defenders and goalkeeper Amanda Knaub.”
From here the Hawks jumped out to an early start and easily sailed to a 4-0 shutout over Niagara this past Saturday afternoon.
There’s been a pattern as Scheriff started out the scoring for the Hawks 13 minutes into the game, with the assist from sophomore forward Lauren Karabin. Scheriff used the skills off of her left foot to ultimately bury the ball in the back of the net. This goal was Scheriff’s fifth on the season and her 14th career goal.
Junior defenseman Sarina Jones was key in setting up majority of the goals for the Hawks. Jones sent a long cross pass to freshman midfielder Alexa Correa who also utilized her left foot to find the goal. This was Correa’s second goal this year and the second of her career.
The third goal of the game was scored in the 33rd minute by sophomore midfieder Jill Conklin and senior midfielder Lexie Palladino rounded out the scoring on a breakaway in the 71st minute making the Hawks win 4-0. This goal gave Palladino a team high 15 points on the season. These numbers correlate to a team-leading offensive output from Palladino.
Offensively, the Hawks outshined Niagara by shooting on them 16 times compared to Niagara’s five shots. Nine of Monmouth’s goals were on the net, almost half of them tallying up the goals on the sheet.
Defensively, senior goalkeeper Amanda Knaub continues her shutout stretch in the net, recording her 10th of the year and 40th overall. She will look to bring this same adrenaline as she continues into the MAAC postseason in a couple of weeks.
“This team continues to find a variety of ways to score goals and earn shutouts,” said Coach Turner. “To be undefeated on the road in the regular season is a terrific accomplishment.”
This win gives Monmouth 24 points in the MAAC standings and guarantees the Hawks at least a semifinal home game in the MAAC playoffs.
Aside from this statistic, Monmouth is also one of only eight teams left in all of the NCAA without a road loss recorded on the season thus far. Monmouth will return home this upcoming Saturday, Oct. 26 on the Great Lawn to host rival Rider. The match will begin at 1:00 p.m. and will also be broadcasted live on ESPN3.
PHOTO COURTESY of Karlee Sell
