RICHMOND, Va. - After starting the season an optimistic 3-0, the Monmouth University field hockey team received its fifth straight loss, 5-0, at the hands of Virginia Commonwealth this Sunday afternoon at Cary Street Field. The Hawks, having finished their longest road trip of the season, fall to 3-5 on the season while the Golden Rams improve to 5-1 overall.
A pair of Golden Rams tallied multi-goal games against the Blue and White with VCU's Kelsey Scherrer notching two straight goals in the first half, at eight minutes and at 28 minutes, to put the Hawks into an early 0-2 deficit going into halftime. The goals were the fifth and sixth on the season for the Golden Ram's Scherrer.
The second half saw Virginia Commonwealth's Marle van Dessel post her first career hat trick, as she notched three straight insurance goals, all within 11 minutes of each other, to leave the final score at 5-0 VCU.
The Hawks notched six shots on goal on the afternoon led by sophomore Tara Brown (Abington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) with three shots. Redshirt senior Enza Mazza (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) got into the action with two shots in the game and senior Stefanie Bucholski (Collingswood, N.J./Collingswood) also tallied a shot.
Junior goalie Melissa Katz (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) made four saves in the game.
VCU led the game with a 17-6 shots on goal advantage, but the Hawks edged the Golden Rams in penalty corners with a 7-6 advantage.The Blue and White fall to 0-3 against VCU overall, having lost an early season game to the Golden Rams last year at home, 0-1.
Having started the season scoring at least one point in each of the first four games, Mazza has temporarily cooled off, posting only a pair of shots on goal in the last two matchups.
After starting the season with three-straight 2-1 victories and scoring an average of two goals per game, the Hawks have recently lost their offensive scoring touch. Monmouth has averaged just .71 goals over the last five games, going 0-5 in the process.
After the long road trip, the Hawks return home to So Sweet A Cat Field for a weekend double header starting with a battle against Lafayette this Saturday, September 26th at 12:00 p.m. The second game of the back-to-back home stand is slated for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 27th against Georgetown.
