WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University lacrosse team defeated Lafayette College, 14-5, Wednesday afternoon on Kessler Field.  The Hawks, who received goals from seven different players, improve to 2-1 on the season with their second straight win while the Leopards fall to 0-3 on the year.

"I thought the players on the field and our coaching staff did a nice job to adjust things on the draw and marking assignments to start taking the game over." said head coach Denise Wescott. "Gianna had a big game coming up with draw controls, getting steals, and scoring for us too. Rachel Feirstein shifted to the draw and we started to get possession more. Our bench really contributed. I wish we had not had so many turnovers, but the team really fought hard to win today."

Lafayette jumped on top 2-0 within the first 10 minutes by goals from Ana Drehwing and Jessica Rothstein.

Monmouth cut the lead in half as sophomore Gianna D'Urso (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) fired a shot past LC's goalkeeper Meghan Curtin with 18:26 left in the half.  The Leopards responded two minutes later as Ana White found Rothstein who pushed Lafayette's lead to 3-1. 

The Hawks took the lead, scoring three goals over four minutes led by senior Molly O'Brien (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) who received a feed from junior Sam Lillo (Short Hills, N.J./Millburn) and fired it past Curtin to bring the Hawks within one, 3-2.  Senior Rachel Feirstein (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) found the back the cage 10 seconds later, followed by junior Erica Abendschoen (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) who gathered a pass from sophomore Kirstyn Urbas (Sewell, N.J./Washingtown Township) and scored her first goal of the season to push the Hawks ahead 4-3.

The Leopards answered with just over 10 minutes left in the half, when Rothstein tallied her third of the game, to knot the game a 4-4.  The Hawks answered with four goals to end the half as Feirstein connected with D'Urso who fired her second of the game to push the Hawks ahead 5-4.  Urbus followed with a free position goal with 6:56 left, which preceded O'Brien's unassisted tally 1:08 later.  O'Brien found Urbas along the left side and rocketed a shot past Curtin to close out the scoring in the half with the Hawks ahead 8-4.

MU's offense picked up from where it left of in the second half, when senior Carissa Franzi (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) found O'Brien who scored her third goal of the contest, pushing the Hawks ahead by five, 9-4, 5:03 into the second stanza.  Feirstein drew two defenders at the top of the eight meter, 2:30 later, and connected with an open O'Brien who beat Curtin inside the right post, which increased MU's lead to 10-4.

Feirstein scored two goals within 46 seconds while freshman Rachel Obregon (Fairfax Station, Va./W.T. Woodson) and Lillo each tallied a goal in the final 11:38, to round out the Hawks' attack.

O'Brein registered four goals for the Hawks, while adding an assist, while Feirstein found the back of the cage three times and was credited with two helpers.  Rothstein led the Leopards with three goals.

Reigning Northeast Conference Defender of the Week, senior goalkeeper Kirby Mundorf (Cambridge, Md./Seton Keough)  made 11 saves in cage for the Hawks, while Curtain and Alexa Biale split time in net, making six and three saves, respectively.

The Hawks controlled the shots, 30-21, and a slight advantage on groundballs, 19-18.  LC gathered 11 draw controls compared to the Hawks nine, while each team converted one free-position shots.

The Hawks return to action on Sunday, March 6th, as they travel to Lynchburg, Va. with a battle with Liberty, beginning at 1 p.m.