The Monmouth University men’s lacrosse team continued the strong start to their season with a thrilling overtime victory over Mount St. Mary’s at Waldron Family Stadium on Saturday, March 4.
The Hawks were able to open the scoring and establish a lead thanks to senior attacker Connor Macrae, assisted by future overtime hero Matt Karsian, and freshman attacker Ty Caffarelli. After blanking Mount St. Mary’s in the first quarter, the Hawks defense ceded momentum to their opponents, who in turn produced a six-goal second quarter that temporarily allowed them to take the lead.
The fireworks stopped in the second half as Monmouth scored the only goal of the third quarter, thanks to Macrae’s second goal of the game, to tie things at six. Caffarelli and Kyle Cullen traded fourth quarter goals to remain tied, this time at seven apiece. With just over three minutes remaining in overtime, Karsian’s long-range crank found twine, securing a Monmouth win in a fifteen-goal stint.
Senior attacker Burke Webb had a couple of special firsts in the win, scoring not only his first career goal, but also his first three career goals, giving him his first collegiate hat trick as well. Webb’s incredible performance was backed up by teammates Macrae and Caffarelli, who each added two, before Karsian called game for the second time this season. The Hawks’ offensive effort has been rather consistent this season to boot, scoring eight or more goals in each of their five games thus far; they have scored 10 or more in two of those.
Head Coach Brian Fisher reflected on the electric win, offering “Credit to Mount Saint Mary’s for the way they battled throughout the game today. I’m sure it was a fun game to watch from the stands as both teams let their guard down at times and kept swinging which led to a back-and-forth affair. The staff are proud of the guys’ grit and determination to play through adversity and when needed several guys stepped up and made plays. On the defensive side of the ball, Andy Kuhlman was great in the cage today, our defense played another strong game while our man down special teams delivered again. On the offensive side, Burke Webb had some key plays in the first half which provided us with some momentum and the Matt’s, Matt Soutar had a big FO win in OT and Matt Karsian made good on the only shot in overtime. It felt great to grind out a hard-earned team win on the road.”
Kuhlman was rock solid in goal for the Hawks, registering 12 saves and racking up five ground balls. Sophomore midfielder Luke Cole matched his career-high in assists with three, while Macrae’s two-goal effort moved him into fourth all-time at Monmouth. It seems that soon, Caffarelli will be giving him competition for that place, as the Newport Beach, California native is already up to 11 goals in his debut season.
With their newly minted four-game win streak, the Hawks now have their longest win streak since 2017, when they ripped off 11 wins in a row. Up next, Monmouth will play their fourth consecutive road game on Saturday, March 11 when they square off against the University of Delaware in the Hawks’ first ever CAA competition.
