WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University women's lacrosse team earned its first Northeast Conference victory of the season with a 20-6 win over Saint Francis University on Friday afternoon at Kessler Field. The Hawks improve to 2-5 on the season and 1-0 in the NEC while the Red Flash fall to 1-3 and 0-1 in the league.
11 different Hawks tallied goals in the contest and 10 different players logged at least two points apiece in the win.
“It is always nice to start the conference season off with a victory,” said head coach Kelly Van Zile.
Junior Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa. /Archbishop Carroll) scored the Hawks first two goals, the second with 25:39 left in the first half. With the Hawks up 7-0 with just less than 20 minutes to go in the first half, Saint Francis's Sheri Fort got the Red Flash on the board with an unassisted tally.
MU then scored four straight goals, with the last tally in the flurry coming from freshman Olivia Salata, her first collegiate goal, (Broomall, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) to take an 11-2 lead with 5:05 left before halftime. The Red Flash added a pair of goals from Kate Simmons and Meg Lamarche, but Monmouth's Brittney McLaughlin (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) ended the first half's scoring with two seconds left, putting the Blue and White up 13-4 at intermission.
The Hawks outscored Saint Francis 7-2 in the second half and were able to run out the final seven minutes of clock.
Brennan scored three goals and added an assist and Salata added her first three collegiate tallies. Freshman Caitlin Kelly (Mendham, N.J./West Morris Mendham) scored two goals and had two assists, freshman Erica Abendschoen (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) had a goal and an assist and Kaitlin Feeney (Baltimore, Md./Towson) added two goals and an assist. Shawn Evans (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) added a goal and an assist, Molly O'Brien (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) scored a pair of goals, freshman Sam Lillo (Short Hills, N.J./Millburn) added two scores and an assist and McLaughlin added two goals.
Senior Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) made two saves to earn the win in goal, while Kirby Mundorf (Catonsville, Md./Seton Keough) played the entire second half, making two saves.
Fort and Simmons each led the Red Flash with two goals apiece, while Danielle Pokusa made seven saves in net.
The Hawks return to action on Sunday, March 22 when they host Robert Morris at 12:00 pm.
