NEWARK, Del. – The Monmouth University field hockey team dropped its last non-conference game of the 2009 season, falling to #17 Delaware, 3-1, Friday afternoon in Newark, Del. With the loss, the Hawks fell to 7-8 overall while the Blue Hens improved to 10-3 on the season.
The Blue and White posted the lone goal of the game 23 minutes into the second half when sophomore Tara Brown (Abington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) struck the back of the net with a shot on a penalty corner from junior Meredith Violi (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) and junior Melissa Murphy (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional).
The Blue Hens got on the board just 44 seconds into the game on the first of three goals from Delaware's all-star Casey Howard. Howard then beat Hawks goalie Melissa Katz (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) nine minutes later to put the Blue Hens up 2-0 going into half.
Howard tacked on her third goal of the game, her 17th of the season, 18 minutes into the second half to put the Blue Hens up 3-0 before Brown's goal.
The Hawks were led defensively by Katz's six saves, while Brown and junior Nora Bosmans (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) each tacked on a defensive save in the game. With her fourth defensive save on the season, Bosmans is now ranked top five in the country in total defensive saves.
Brown led the team offensively with three shots on goal alongside redshirt senior Enza Mazza (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) who also posted three shots on goal. Sophomore Ashley McPeek (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney) also added a shot on goal in the game.
The Blue Hens held the shots advantage over the Hawks, 20-7, while the Hawks held the penalty corners advantage, 10-7.
Delaware now holds the all-time series lead on the Hawks, 3-0.
The Hawks return to the field on Sunday, October 18th, when they travel to Connecticut to take on NEC rival, Quinnipiac at 12:00 p.m.
