WEST PALM, Fla.- Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team improved to 4-1 on the season with a 18-10 win over La Salle University on Thursday morning.
Katie Degen (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore) and Carolyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson), a pair of seniors, led the way for the Hawks scoring 14 of the team's 18 goals. It marks the second time this season that Degen tallied seven goals, which ties the two for the second most goals scored in a single game.
Raveia got the scoring going, tallying the first two goals of the game including an eight-meter, to give MU a 2-0 lead with less than two minutes taken off the clock. La Salle's Catie Borneman cut the lead to one about a minute later, but the Hawks rattled off five unanswered goals, including three from Degen and two from Raveia to take the lead for good. After Emily Bonczek ended the scoring drought for the Explorers, Monmouth outscored La Salle 4-3 over the rest of the frame. It was Megan Brennan's (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) goal with 23 seconds left that proved to be the eventual game winner as the Hawks held a 11-5 lead going into the break.
La Salle and Degen traded goals over the first six minutes of the second half but Alli Pollock (Watervliet, N.Y./Shaker) and Raveia scored a goal each to clinch the win. Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional), Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) and Degen finished the scoring for Monmouth as the Hawks cruised to the 18-10 victory.
Senior Monica Johnson earned her fourth win in net for the Hawks, stopping 15 shots in the win. Monmouth held a 43-31 shot advantage in the game, with defender Kaitlyn Robinson (Huntington Station, N.Y./St. Anthony's) causing three turnovers and grabbing three ground balls.
Degen led all scorers with an amazing 10 point effort, on seven goals and three assists. The senior also had four ground balls, three draw controls and two caused turnovers. Raveia had eight points (7g-1a), while Waldman, Colleen Burg (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee), Brennan and Nutter finished with two points.
Two La Salle goaltenders combined for 20 saves in net, with Bonczek's five goals leading the way for the Explorers.
The win wrapped up MU's Spring Break Trip, in which they posted a 2-0 record with a win earlier in the week against Davidson. The Hawk's 4-1 record ties the second best start in school history with the 1997 and 2000 seasons. Monmouth opened the 1999 season by going 7-1 in its first eight contests.
Monmouth will return home for their next two games, beginning with Sunday's 1 p.m. tilt against LeMoyne.
