WEST LONG BRANCH-   Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team kept it close against Atlantic 10 opponent Duquesne but eventually fell 20-15 to the Dukes.

Duquesne jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first six minutes of play before junior Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) got MU on the board at the 21:21 mark.  The Dukes tallied another goal before the Hawks scored three straight, two by Carolyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) to tie the game at 4-4 with 11:02 to play in the half.  Four straight Duquesne goals gave the home team a 8-4 lead before freshman Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) and Raveia tallied Hawk goals to cut the lead to two.  Duquesne's Ashley Wood notched a heartbreaking goal with 21 seconds left in the first half to hand the Dukes a 9-6 halftime lead.

Brennan started the second half scoring up but Duquesne rattled off five straight goals to expand its margin to 14-7 with 25:10 left in regulation.  The Hawks scored four unanswered goals, with Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) accounting for two of them but the damage was already done as the Dukes walked away winners by a score of 20-15.

Monica Johnson finished with 19 saves in the game including 12 in the first half.  Raveia's four goals led the Hawks with Brennan, Nutter and senior Katie Degen (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore) tallying three points each.