WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University lacrosse team dropped a 5-4 Northeast Conference match to Sacred Heart in three overtimes on Saturday afternoon at a rainy Kessler Field. Sacred Heart's Mary Montesarchio scored with 22 seconds in to the third overtime period to give the Pioneers the win.
With 1:17 left in regulation, Sacred Heart was whistled for offsides, giving MU possession. Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) got behind the defense and had a one-on-one breakaway with SHU keeper Chelsea Wagner, who made the save. The Hawks got possession back and Brennan was fouled with 9.5 seconds left, giving her a free position chance. Wagner again came up with a big save, stopping Brennan in front of the cage.
With 8.1 seconds left in the second overtime, DeWitt was fouled but her free position opportunity skipped off the crossbar and went out of bounds, keeping the match deadlocked at 4-4.
Sacred Heart's Amanda Williams scored the match's first goal on a free position with just less than 10 and a half minutes remaining. After the Pioneers added another tally, Monmouth's Rachel Feirstein (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) cut the deficit in half when she scored the Hawks first goal off a free position with 2:53 left in the first half.
Both the Hawks and Pioneers took 10 shots in the first half, while Monmouth was a perfect 9-for-9 on clears in the opening period. MU goalie Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) made four first half saves, while Sacred Heart's Chelsea Wagner logged five stops.
After Sacred Heart took a 3-1 lead early in the second half, Monmouth's Molly O'Brien (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) took a feed over the middle from Ali Pollock (Watervliet, N.Y./Shaker) and beat the SHU keeper low to cut the visitor's lead to one with 18:45 left in the match.
Down by a goal, MU's Johnson intercepted a pass from behind the net to trigger a fast break, making a perfect outlet pass to Danielle Hawkins (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace), who was fouled. She eventually got the ball to Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) who found Perry DeWitt (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) ahead of the pack for the game-tying goal with 9:47 left in regulation.
MU took its first lead of the match with 5:19 left when O'Brien centered a pass to Carissa Franzi (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) who beat the keeper for the 4-3 lead, but Sacred Heart knotted the contest less than a minute later when Williams scored.
MU outshot Sacred Heart 25-18, including 15-8 in the second half and overtime periods. Monmouth was successful on 16-of-17 clears in the match, but was only 1-for-7 on free-position shots.
Johnson made eight saves in the game and DeWitt had four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Brennan added three ground balls and three caused turnovers, while Kelly Bosco (Gulph Mills, Pa./Archsbishop Carroll) added three ground balls.
Wagner made 13 saves, including eight in the second half and overtime periods. The Pioneers defense was led by Mary LaGrassa, who had three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Carissa Hauser added five draw controls for the visitors.
Monmouth returns to action on Wednesday, April 15 when they visit Lehigh for a 7:00 pm nonconference match.
