WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Despite a two goal effort from graduate student Morganne Firmstone (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale), the Monmouth University field hockey team fell to Hofstra University, 4-3, in its home opener Wednesday afternoon at So Sweet A Cat Field. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 0-2 on the year while the Pride improves to 1-2 on the season.
Monmouth got on the board 3:47 into the contest as Firmstone and sophomore Patricia O'Dwyer (Dublin, Ireland/Loreto Beaufort) converted a give-and-go inside the circle for Firmstone's first goal of the season and a 1-0 MU lead.
The Pride responded just over one minute before the end of the half as Jonel Boileau registered an unassisted tally to even the score going into the break.
Hofstra took the lead 19 seconds into the second stanza as Krizia Layne beat Monmouth sophomore goalkeeper Teresa Mathews (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) giving Hofstra the 2-1 lead.
Kimmy Baligian (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) took a feed from Ashley McPeek (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney) and fired a shot past Hofstra's goalkeeper Amanda Heyde for her first goal of the season which evened the score at 2-2, 7:05 into the second half.
Krizia tallied her second goal of the contest 38 seconds later, tipping a loose ball in front of the cage out of the mid-air to give Hofstra a 3-2 lead.
MU knotted the score 3:13 minutes later as Firmstone tipped in a rebound, her second goal of the contest, off of Alex Carroll's (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) shot from the left side of the circle to tie the score at 3-3.
The Pride converted the game-winner, with 14 minutes remaining, as Darrah Rachman played a pass from Boileau and beat Mathews low inside the near post, giving Hofstra a 4-3 lead it would not relinquish.
Mathews turned away six Hofstra shots and sophomore Ali Askinas (West Chester, Pa./B. Reed Henderson) added a defensive save for MU, while Heyde made eight saves in cage for the Pride.
Both teams earned 11 penalty corners, while the visitors controlled the shots 20-13.
Monmouth returns to action as it welcomes Miami of Ohio on Friday, September 2nd beginning at 3:00 p.m. at So Sweet a Cat Field.
