HAMILTON, N.Y. - History was made Sunday afternoon when the Monmouth University field hockey team notched a 2-1 victory over non-conference foe, Colgate, at Tyler's Field in Hamilton, N.Y. The 2009 Hawks, who are now 2-0, have opened up the year for the first time since the program's inaugural 1997 season, with back-to-back victories.
"As a team, we wanted to take a step forward and elevate our game from Friday {win over La Salle}," said Head Coach Carli Figlio. "Our defense was very solid with Melissa {Katz} having a great day. I thought our forwards had good movement which created a lot of opportunities for us."
Monmouth was first to strike in the game when senior Enza Mazza (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) blasted a shot just inside the yellow line past Colgate goalie Sarah Pedersen's right side to put the Hawks up 1-0 just 19 minutes into the game. The Hawks took the 1-0 advantage into intermission.
Freshman Michelle Pieczynski (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) got into the action in the second half of play when she deflected an outside blast by Mazza into the net for the Blue and White's second goal of the afternoon with eight minutes left to play. The Red Raiders' Sara Kongkatong scored Colgate's lone goal with four minutes left in the game, but the Hawks prevailed again for their second 2-1 victory in as many games. Pieczynski tallied her first career goal and game winner on the afternoon.
Junior goalie Melissa Katz (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) played rock solid between the pipes with eight saves in 70 minutes of play. Five Hawks each posted three shots on goal in the afternoon including Mazza, Pieczynski, juniors Morganne Firmstone (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale) and Meredith Violi (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg), and sophomore Ashley McPeek (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney).
Monmouth outshot Colgate, 17-14, while the Red Raiders dominated on corners, 16-5, but couldn't convert any into goals.
With the Blue and White improving to 2-0 on the season, the Red Raiders fall to 0-1.
Coach Figlio's squad is looking forward to their next challenge on the schedule, Penn. "We will look to keep building from this weekend's success," added Coach Figlio.
The Hawks host non-conference competitor, Penn, on Friday, September 4th at 5:00 p.m. at So Sweet A Cat Field on the MU campus.
