WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University lacrosse team won their second straight game to open the 2008 season 17-10 over Atlantic-10 opponent La Salle on Sunday afternoon at Kessler Field.
Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) scored the game's first goal 21 seconds in to give the Hawk's an early lead. Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) then added to the Monmouth lead with goal off a spin move 40 seconds into the contest. Ali Pollock (Watervliet, N.Y./Shaker) followed suit with a spin move stick side goal at the 26:29 mark for the Hawks.
Freshman Carissa Franzi (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) scored her first collegiate goal as she split two La Salle defenders and scored at 24:30 for the Blue and White. Waldman scored again on a one-timer to boost the MU lead to 5-0 after a Renae Hill (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) assist.
La Salle got on the board with an Emily Bonczek free position goal at the 20:01 mark of the first half, but Nutter answered for MU with back-to-back free position goals.
MU's Shawn Evans (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) then scored from Waldman 14:58 of the first half
Nutter then threw a shoulder fake on her defender at the 14-yard line, went to the net and beat the La Salle goalie high side at 14:16 to make the score 8-1 Monmouth. With the tally, Nutter moved into sixth place on Monmouth's all-time career goals list with 124 tallies.
La Salle's Bonczek then navigated through the Monmouth defense for an unassisted tally to cut the MU lead to six. The Explorers got another tally from Kelly Heiss on a free position with 9:29 left in the first half. Waldman's free position tally at 5:48 halted
La Salle's two-goal run. Rachel Feirstein (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) answered for Monmouth with an assist from Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) at the 3:52. The tally was Feirstein's first collegiate goal.
La Salle then went on a three-goal run to end the half, started by Erika Matthews on an assist from Nicole McCurdy with less than three minutes left in the half. Bonczek finished the half with two straight goals, the second from the free position, with 1:15 left in the half.
The second half began the same way the first one ended, with a Bonczek goal, this time assisted by McCurdy 41 seconds into second half. Nutter stopped the La Salle rally with an unassisted tally with 27:00 left in the contest. The back and forth scoring continued when La Salle's Stefany McKee scored off an assist from McCurdy, and MU's Pollock found the back of net, off a feed from Feirstein for the answer.
Bonczek continued her scoring with a tremendous individual effort to score and cut the MU lead to 11-8. Nutter continued her stellar day with an unassisted goal courtesy of a spin move, and Brennan followed that with a score from a Waldman assist 16 seconds later.
La Salle's Allie Venuti would add an unassisted goal for the Explorer's final tally, making the score 14-10. Brennan would score the final two MU tallies, the second off a find from Nutter, and the senior would finish the day off with her sixth goal at the 2:10 mark of the game.
Nutter led MU with six goals, while Waldman and Brennan added three scores apiece. Pollock scored two goals for Monmouth, and Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) made 10 saves in the net for the Hawks to earn her second straight win.
Franzi added three ground balls to go along with her goal scored, as well as three caused turnovers.
Monmouth returns to action on Friday, March 7 when they travel to Syracuse for a 3:00 p.m. showdown with LeMoyne.
