WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? Monmouth field hockey controlled the pace of the game, but was unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities as they fell to Quinnipiac, 2-1 Friday afternoon on So Sweet A Cat Field. The loss drops the Hawks to 0-1 in the conference season and 1-11 overall.
The Blue and White were lead by senior forward Janine Rini (Millstone, N.J./Allentown) who notching her team-leading fourth goal of the season in a first half of play.
The Bobcats opened play with a backhanded shot by Megan McCreedy to put Quinnipiac up 1-0 five minutes into play. Quinnipiac followed 12 minutes later with a rebounded goal past Hawks goalie Melissa Katz (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional), prompting Coach Carli Figlio to call a timeout. Just seconds after the timeout, Rini followed her own strike, putting in a rebound goal to cut the Bobcats lead down to one.
“In the first half, we let down with small mistakes that are easily correctible,” said Coach Figlio. “Minus the mistakes, we were an attacking threat the majority of the game.”
The second half showed a multitude of scoring opportunities for the Hawks, but they were unable to capitalize. Rini provided the Blue and White with the best chance to even the score 19 minutes into play with a partially deflected flick shot just missing the top of the goal.
Enza Mazza (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) posted five shots in the game with Aubrey Clark (Petersburg, N.J./Ocean City) and Elly Rosati (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) shooting two and one a piece for the Hawks.
Katz added eight saves in the game including a diving save with a minute left to play in the first half. Quinnipiac outshot Monmouth 16-11, while also holding the corner opportunities 7-5.
The Hawks go 0-1 to open up NEC play, as they look to bounce back in the next game. Coach Figlio pointed out, “We are looking to correct our mistakes and doing a better job of executing plays going into our next conference game on Sunday.”
Monmouth will look to even up their conference record this Sunday, October 12th, as they travel to Sacred Heart for a 12:00 p.m. game against the Pioneers.
