WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University field hockey team struck for four goals in the first half, which lead to its 5-2 victory over Temple on Saturday afternoon on So Sweet A Cat Field. The Hawks, who received votes for the third straight week in the Kookaburra / NFHCA National Poll, extended their win streak to seven games and improved to 8-1 on season, while Temple falls to 4-7.
"It was a focus of ours to come out strong in the first half and score early," said head coach Carli Figlio. "The defense was solid today in one of their best games together as a unit and Melissa Katz was terrific for us in goal."
Senior Morganne Firmstone (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale) put the Hawks on the board just 34 seconds into the game when she corralled the loose ball off of sophomore Michelle Pieczynski's (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) saved shot, and fired it past Owls' goaltender Sarah Dalrymple for her fourth goal of the year.
The Hawks added to their lead five minutes later, capitalizing on a penalty corner, as senior Meredith Violi (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) inserted the ball to freshman Alex Carroll (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) who found the back of the cage for the eighth time this season.
Just over two minutes later, sophomore Kimmy Baligian (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) carried the ball into the circle with after causing a Temple turnover and fired an unassisted tally between the legs of Dalrymple for her first of two goals on the day and a 3-0 MU advantage. Pieczynski rounded out the Hawks' first half attack as she took a pass from junior Ashley McPeek (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney) and took one-touched it past Dalrymple for her fifth of the year.
Baligian added her second score of the game seven minutes into the second half, as senior Nora Bosmans (Oakhurst, N.J./Shore Regional) played the ball down the right side and sent a pass into the circle. The sophomore controlled the ball and fired it past a sprawling Dalrymple for her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Temple scored twice within the last 12 minutes of the match to cut the lead to 5-2, as Kaylee Keener beat Hawks' goalkeeper senior Melissa Katz (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional [Michigan State]) off a feed from Taryn Nichols. Bridget Settles found the back of the cage off her own rebound with 31-seconds left in the contest to pull the Owls within three scores.
Katz earns the win making fives saves, while Darlymple is credited with the loss, turning away seven shots.
The Hawks controlled the shots, 14-8, while the Owls held the slight advantage in penalty corners, 8-7.
"Today's win was a great way to go into our game tomorrow against our toughest competition of the season against Penn State," added Figlio.
Monmouth returns to action tomorrow afternoon, as it travels to University Park, Pa. for a non-conference battle with #15 Penn State, starting at noon.
