Women’s lacrosse team dropped their matchup over the weekend against in conference rival Marist, 14-3. The Hawks now stand at an overall record of 3-8 and 1-1 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Play.
Marist registered the first goal of the game in the 25th minute taking advantage of a Monmouth yellow card. Monmouth quickly responded with a goal from sophomore midfielder Chloe Novak a minute later. At this point both defenses buckled down and no team let up a goal for the next six minutes.
Marist would break the scoring drought with two goals each within two minutes of each other, to take the 3-1 lead. Monmouth’s senior midfielder Alexa Smith and sophomore midfielder Allison Turturro each scored to bring the Hawks to even with ten minutes left in the half.
Marist snatched back the lead moments later and Monmouth appeared to have tied it again off a goal by Smith, but it was recalled due to a crease violation. The Red Foxes pushed their advantage with three goals over the remainder of the half and it stood 6-3 Marist.
The narrative at this point was that both teams were evenly matched and neither able to grab a substantive lead. Both teams were nearly dead even in the statistics department. For instance, Monmouth recorded 14 shots compared to Marist’s 13.
The second half however was different story as the Red Foxes pulled away on the scoreboard. Marist would go on to score eight straight unanswered goals in the second half to firmly secure their win.
Head Coach Jordan Trautman said this after the game, “I’m really pleased with the effort the team showed for 60 minutes despite the situation we were in. It was 60 minutes of tough and gritty play and although the X’s and O’s weren’t there, we do have some positives to take away from this game and I know we can build some momentum from this experience.”
Some of those positives center around the ability for Monmouth to generate chances. The Hawks took a total of 27 shots compared to Marist’s 30 with 20 of those shots on goal. Furthermore, the team was able to take a total of nine free positions with six of those in the second half. The issue was that Monmouth was unable to convert any of those high-quality chances.
Additionally, Marist’s Goalie Galvin Delaney can be credited with an impressive performance. Delaney was a stalwart in net all day and she made a total of 17 saves when it was all said and done.
In other news, Smith was named as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Division student-athlete of the week. This was following an impressive performance against Quinnipiac where Smith recorded four goals in the win. Smith currently holds a 3.8 grade point average and is expected to graduate in May with a degree in Biochemistry.
This is not the first time Smith has been recognized for her academic efforts. Smith was named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Academic Honor Roll and MAAC All-Academic team last year. Furthermore, Smith has scored in 17 straight games and is 12th on goals list in Monmouth’s History.
Monmouth will look to return to winning ways with two matchups this week. First, they will take on Fairfield at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday April 4th in West Long Branch. Then on Sunday, they will travel up to Buffalo to face off against Canisius at 11:00 a.m. Both games will be broadcasted on ESPN3.
PHOTO TAKEN by Karlee Sell
