WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University women's lacrosse team hung on to defeat Sacred Heart 11-8 in their Northeast Conference home opener Friday afternoon at Kessler Field. MU improves to 8-3 and 3-0 in league play while Sacred Heart falls to 4-4 and 1-2 in the conference.
Carolyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) got the scoring started for Monmouth three minutes into the game as she scored unassisted, which was followed by Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) going high left-side on a free position goal at the 18:16 mark of the first half.
Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) then scored on a wrap around after a foul by Sacred Heart's Mary Montesarchio to give MU a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later.
Brianna Bubeck got the Pioneers on the board off an assist from Liz Ottey midway through the first half to cut the MU lead to 3-1, but Waldman scored her second goal of the game off a free position to boost the MU lead back to 4-1 one minute later.
The Hawks ended the first half when they executed a perfect give-and-go as Kaitlyn Robinson (Huntington Station, N.Y./St. Anthony's) scored on an assist from Katie Degen (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore) with less than a minute to go before halftime, and MU went into the intermission up 5-1.
The Blue and White didn't wait long to get on the board in the second half as Waldman scored off a Degen assist and 12 seconds later Nutter scored off a feed from Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) to boost the Hawks' lead to 7-1. MU won the first five draw controls of the second half as their scoring barrage continued when Waldman scored an unassisted goal one minute later to up the lead to 8-1 with 28:18 left in the game.
MU's four-goal run to begin the second half was halted when Bubeck scored off a free position opportunity to cut the lead to 8-2 with 24:33, and Ottey tallied an unassisted score right after that to cut the deficit to five.
Nutter scored on a free position goal to give the Hawks a 9-3 lead with twenty minutes left in the game. Sacred Heart's Alyssa Harris then scored off an assist from Amanda Williams to trim the lead to 9-4 with 12 minutes left in the game. Carissa Hauser then scored off a free position chance to cut the MU lead to 9-5. Brennan answered the 4-1 Pioneer run by scoring off a free position goal at the 10:45 mark of the game, boosting the Blue and White lead to 10-5. Bubeck answered with a free position goal of her own thirty seconds later. The Hawks' lead was cut to three at 10-7 as Hauser scored off a scrum in front of the net with seven minutes left in the game.
Katie Salamone cut the Hawks' lead to two at 10-8 after going the length of the field and shot low on MU goalie Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) at the 3:30 mark. Brennan added some insurance by going around the net and bouncing a goal in to boost the lead back to three at with two and a half minutes left.
Waldman led the MU offense with four goals, while Nutter added three and Brennan chipped in with two tallies. Waldman also added three draw controls
Johnson stopped 13 shots between the pipes for the Hawks to earn her eighth win of the season. Robinson added five ground balls, while Nutter and Jessica Picciuto (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) added three each.
The Hawks return to action on Tuesday, April 3 when they host Lafayette at 4 pm.
Pictured: Junior Ashley Waldman
