Monmouth University men’s lacrosse defeated Quinnipiac in the opening weekend of conference play. The Hawk’s come from behind win gives the team a three-game winning streak and a 4-3 overall record.
Quinnipiac jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first quarter. Monmouth’s Connor Macrae tied the game 1-1 when he netted his first goal of the game with four minutes remaining in the first.
Quinnipiac responded with two quick scores ending the first quarter ahead with a score of 3-1.
The matchup was tightly contested with each team taking the lead several times throughout the game. Monmouth battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the second tying the score at the end of the second and scored three more early in the third to go ahead 7-4.
Monmouth and Quinnipiac were tied 8-8 midway through the fourth quarter until Devin Pipher’s game winning shot with four minutes left put the Hawks ahead 9-8.
Macrae’s team high three goals is his seventh hat trick of his career at Monmouth and 20th goal this season. Pipher and Max Brooks each scored twice. Noah Lode had 15 saves as goalie for Monmouth.
Head Coach Brian Fisher said, “It was a classic conference game today and had a little bit of everything. We are happy with the win and proud of the guys for responding to adversity throughout the game as well as making the plays down the stretch to close the game out. We still have a lot of room to improve but are glad to be 1-0 in conference play and looking forward to playing at home next weekend.”
Men’s lacrosse will continue MAAC play at Kessler Stadium on Saturday, April 2 at 11 a.m against Siena.
The Monmouth women’s lacrosse team fell to Niagara 13-10 in its MAAC opener on Saturday despite outscoring them 4–0 in the fourth quarter. The Hawks are currently 5-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play this season.
Niagara took an early lead with two goals in the first ten minutes. Cassidy Orben cut that lead in half with her 19th goal of the season and first of three in the game. Orben led the offense with her fourth hat trick this season as well as six draw controls and a career-high, four caused turnovers.
Scoring back to back goals in the fourth quarter gave Ella Spear’s her second career multi-goal game. Maddy Murphy, Caroline Brennan, and Hope Steuerwald earned two points each with a goal and an assist.
The Hawk’s were never able to get ahead of the Purple Eagles and found themselves trailing throughout the game. Monmouth started the fourth quarter down 13-6. A fourth quarter burst of offense brought the women’s team within three points.
Monmouth’s defense was led by Gina Verrone and Brianna Falco. Falco finished the day with four ground balls and five draw controls in addition to three caused turnovers. Verrone had season-high totals in turnovers and ground balls. For the second time this season the Hawks were able to keep an opponent scoreless in a quarter.
Monmouth outscored Niagara 32-26, led in caused turnovers 14-4 and gathered more ground balls than their opponent but were unable to walk away with the victory falling to Niagara in their first conference match of the season.
Head Coach Jordan Trautman said, “Today was disappointing. We must and we will move forward together as we take important lessons from this game so that we can become a better version of ourselves for our game against Manhattan on Wednesday.”
Monmouth women’s lacrosse is looking for a definite rebound. They will host Manhattan 3 p.m. on March 30 at Kessler Stadium.
