WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Monmouth's women's lacrosse team rebounded from their last game with a 16-7 home victory over Binghamton on Sunday at Kessler Field.

The Hawks were led by senior Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown), who tallied a season-high six goals, five of which came in the first half.  For the second consecutive game, freshman Rachel Feirstein (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) tallied a multi-goal game, this time ringing the Bearcats up for four goals.

Monmouth held a 9-4 advantage at the half, with five of those goals coming from the stick of Nutter.  Binghamton struck first on a Kate Tesi goal after she caught a pass from behind the MU net and beat Johnson.  Feirstein tallied her first a few minutes later to tie the game at 1-1 but Bearcat attacker Lisa Illig scored less than a minute later to regain the lead for the visitors.  The Hawks then rattled off four straight goals over a five minutes span to retake the lead, this time for good.  Binghamton's Kate Tesi broke the streak at the 13:40 to cut the MU lead to 5-3 but 23 seconds later Nutter notched her third goal of the half.

MU closed out the final 10 minutes of the first half by outscoring Binghamton 3-1, including two goals from Nutter and one from senior captain Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional). 

Monmouth's defense was on display in the opening minutes of the second half as Johnson and the Hawks turned away three shots.  Binghamton's first goal of the half came with just over 13 minutes remaining and by that time the Hawks had registered second half goals from the sticks of Nutter, Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) and Ali Pollock (Watervliet, N.Y./Shaker).  Feirstein added two more goals with Pollock and Waldman finishing the scoring for MU. Leanne Musso scored with seven seconds remaining for Binghamton and Monmouth claimed the 16-7 win.  Monmouth freshman goalkeeper Kirby Mundorf (Catonsville, Md./Seton Keogh) saw her first collegiate action, stopping one shot in the final seven minutes of play. 

Tesi finished with three goals for Binghamton, while Musso had two.  Senior goalie Sandra Alvarez had three groundballs and eight saves for the Bearcats.

Nutter led all scorers with six goals, while Pollock had five points on three goals and two assists.  The sophomore also had two caused turnovers.  Waldman had two goals and five draw controls in the win with Feirstein finishing with four goals on four shots.

Monmouth finished the game with a 36-21 advantage in shots.

The Hawks, now 3-1 on the season, travel to play St. Mary's of California in their next outing on Wed., March 13.  The match time is set for 3:30 p.m.