HAMDEN, Conn. ? The third-seeded Monmouth University lacrosse team dropped a 12-11 decision to second-seeded Sacred Heart in the semifinals of the 2008 Northeast Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Quinnipiac University Field Hockey and Lacrosse Turf Complex.
Sacred Heart took the game's first lead when they won the opening draw control and Mary Montesarchio fed teammate Amanda Williams from behind the net for the score with less than a minute gone by. The Pioneers won the game's second draw control and held the ball for over five minutes before Williams scored again with 24:32 remaining in the first half.
Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) answered with the Hawks first goal twenty seconds later, beating her defender with a great one-on-one move for the tally. MU goalie Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) stopped SHU's Jessica Ingrilli on the doorstep at the 21:00 minute mark of the opening half, keeping the score 2-1 in favor of the Pioneers.
Liz Ottey put Sacred Heart up 3-1 at the 15:55 mark of the firsts half after the Hawks had maintained possession for almost five minutes but couldn't score. Meghan McCaffrey scored on a free position for the Pioneers to increase their lead to 4-1 with 15:37 remaining in the opening half. Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) scored an apparent goal, but she was called for a dangerous follow through and handed a yellow card with 15:01 left in the first half. SHU's Ingrilli scored off an assist from Carissa Hauser to put the Pioneers up 5-1 with 8:42 showing before intermission.
Kelly Bosco (Gulph Mills, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) made a great defensive play for MU, poking the ball away from a SHU player with 4:45 left in the first half which eventually led to a Rachel Feirstein (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) free position goal one minute later to cut the lead to 5-2. Waldman drew Monmouth to within two at 5-3 after a free position goal with 1:56 showing before halftime.
SHU's Williams increased their lead back to 6-3 after Williams tallied a score on a free position with 1:22 showing in the first half. Ingrilli padded the Pioneer lead to 7-3 after she scored off an assist from Katie Salamone at the one minute mark.
Carissa Franzi (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) scored the second half's first goal after Nutter found her curling around the cage for the goal to cut the SHU lead to 7-4. Ingrilli and Williams teamed up again for the Pioneers, increasing their lead to 8-4 with 23:04 left in the game. Nutter then assisted on her second goal of the half when she found Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) around the right side of the cage for the score to cut the lead to 8-5 in the 19th minute. The Pioneers scored two straight goals to take a 10-5 lead with 10:55 remaining in the game.
Nutter scored to cut the SHU lead to 10-6 with 9:26 left, but the Hawks lost Waldman for the afternoon after she picked up her second yellow card with less than nine minutes remaining. Salamone scored for Sacred Heart to increased their lead to 12-6 with 7:04 left.
Jessica Picciuto (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) tallied a free position goal with less than seven minutes remaining, and Feirstein added an unassisted goal to make it 12-8 with 4:57 left in the game. The NEC Rookie of the Year scored again to cut the SHU lead advantage to 12-9, 26 seconds later.
Nutter picked up a yellow card, Monmouth's fourth of the contest, with 4:22 left, so the Hawks played down a player until the 1:22 mark of the game. Picciuto scored on a free position to cut the lead to 12-10 with 1:15 left in the contest. Feirstein streaked down the field and scored with 3.4 seconds left, but Monmouth was unable to get a shot off.
The Hawks fell to Sacred Heart 12-9 in their regular season meeting back on March 20 in Fairfield, Conn.
The Monmouth University lacrosse team has qualified for the Northeast Conference Tournament in all 11 years it has been held, the only team in the league to hold that distinction. This year marks the first time since 2003 that the Hawks will not play in the NEC Championship game.
