Women’s lacrosse split their two away matchups over break. Beating the University of New Hampshire (UNH) 10-8 on Monday, March 12 and losing to Drexel 11-16 on Sunday, March 18. Monmouth now stands at an overall record of 2-7 and has completed their out of conference games.
The Hawks staged a daring second half comeback to pull out the road win against New Hampshire. Monmouth outscored the Wildcats 7-2 in the second half, including the final five to pull off the impressive comeback.
A sluggish and sloppy defensive effort in the first half left the Hawks nursing a 6-3 deficit. Monmouth let New Hampshire take a total of 23 shots in the first half while only mustering eight of their own. Junior goalkeeper Riley Brager stood tall in net as she made ten saves in the first half and 14 overall to keep her team in the game.
Monmouth circled the wagons in the second and showed a tremendous amount of grit to turn it around in the end. Junior attack Jenny Staines got it going in the second half for the Hawks. Staines was involved in two straight goals, scoring the first and assisting in the other to cut the deficit to 5-7 with 26 minutes left.
No scoring took place for nine minutes until The Wildcats responded with a goal of their own to reclaim a three-goal advantage. Five minutes later junior midfielder Logan Smet began the five-unanswered goal run with her first of two on the day.
With 6:27 left to play Staines buried a pass from sophomore attack Nicole Ceraso to tie it up at eight. Senior attack Alexa Smith than gave the Hawks the 9-8 lead with her team high third goal of the game with three minutes to play. Senior midfielder Claudia LaMarca capped off the exciting comeback off a Ceraso assist and who led the team with five points.
“I’m really proud of the team for scrapping back into the game and fighting for the win. We had a couple of players in the second half step up and make some important plays,” Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman. “Mackenzie Rendich had a great game on the defensive end with some big turnovers and Megan Hart really stepped up to handle the ball in transition which created some key scoring opportunities.”
Despite an 11-goal outing on Sunday, Monmouth fell short of securing their second straight win. The game was tied up a four a-piece at the halfway mark, but Drexel erupted with 12 goals in the second half to lock in the win.
Four different Hawks scored in a tightly contested first half as both teams battled to a virtually standstill. This was evident in the statistics department as shots in the first half were essentially even, with Drexel taking 15 to Monmouth’s 13.
The second half picked off where the first left off as neither team was able to capture more than two goal advantage for the first ten minutes of play. This narrative changed in the blink of the eye as the Dragons surged ahead 13-8 with four straight goals over a five-minute period.
Senior midfielder Caroline Corbliss put an end to the run at the 14:23 mark but momentum had clearly shifted in Drexel’s favor. Corbliss completed her hat-trick in the final minute of play but the team overall failed to muster any substantive comeback attempt in the final minutes of play.
Trautman said after the game, “We are struggling to control the momentum in games. It is important that we start winning the 50/50 opportunities that dictate the tempo and emotion of the game.”
Monmouth now begins Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play this week with a matchup against Quinnipiac on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn.
PHOTO COURTESY of B51/Mark Brown