WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Behind senior
Mary Wilks' game-winner in the 70th minute, the Monmouth University women's soccer team improved to 4-0 on the year with a 2-1 victory over visiting Boston University, on Monday afternoon on Kessler Field.
Monmouth's 4-0 start marks the first four-game unblemished beginning to a season for the Hawks since 1995, while the Terriers, also receiving votes in the NSCAA national poll, (2-4) fell to its fourth nationally-ranked team - by one goal - already this year.
"Today was a great result against a very good BU team," stated head coach
Krissy Turner. "We are off to a strong start, which is terrific. We will need to stay healthy, and battle, as it is a long season."
Monmouth took an early 1-0 advantage in the match, notching a goal in the sixth minute, when freshman
Dana Costello tallied her team-leading fourth score of the season. On the preceding play, senior defender
Jackie Grodotzke fed Costello with a long pass from the back, and the forward beat BU goalkeeper, Kelly King, to the near post with her left foot.
The Terriers responded with a score to even the match at 1-1 in the 13th minute, as Erin Mullen played a ball into the box that was headed on by Lisa Kevorkian to Emma Clark at the far post. Clark, who nodded the ball past
Lia Fierro, recorded her second goal of the year - the first against the Hawks on the season.
Wilks provided her second score of the season, and second game-winner in the 70th minute, as the forward ran on to a goalkeeper clearance off the boot of Fierro, the senior's second assist in two matches, giving the Hawks a 2-1 edge. Wilks, who got by the last defender, beat Alice Binns into the far netting for the decisive score.
In the match, the Terriers outshot the Hawks 7-6, as Fierro made a pair of saves for Monmouth. King and Binns split time between the pipes for BU, and Binns was saddled with the loss.
Fierro, in her 63rd career start for the Hawks, recorded her 43rd career win.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, September 11, when the Hawks travel to Brown University for a 2:00 p.m., non-conference match.
