WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Monmouth University's women's lacrosse squad
used a total team effort to hand Central Connecticut State their first
conference loss of the season, 12-7 on Kessler Field Thursday afternoon.
The Hawks (4-9, 3-2 NEC), which never trailed, opened up an 8-1 lead in the
first half. The Blue Devils (5-5, 3-1 NEC), who are off to their best start in
program history, scored six second-half goals but it wasn't enough to keep pace
with the Monmouth offense.
"To me it was a lot about the stats today," said MU head Coach Denise Wescott.
We started getting the draw, we got some good looks early. Our defense just
shut them down, our assistant coaches' scouting report was good and that really
helped us shut the door. Our offense pressure and ran our ride as well as
we have all year. We eased up a little in the second, we felt a little too
confident. We gave up the draws and they capitalized."
Offensively, the Hawks were led by sophomore Kaleigh Gibbons (Candia,
N.H./Central/RMU), who had a career-high seven points on five goals and two
assists. The MU defense was impressive, forcing CCSU into 14 turnovers. Sabrina
Heskins (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) had three ground balls and two caused
turnovers while freshman Katie Donohoe (Peterborough, Ontario/Holy Cross
Secondary School) backstopped the Hawks with six saves, six ground balls and
four caused turnovers.
The Hawks jumped all over the Blue Devils with Gibbons tallying back to back
goals in the first 2:38 of the game. Senior Sam Lillo (Short Hills,
N.J./Milburn) tallied two straight of her own, giving the Hawks a 4-0 lead with
14:10 to play. Lynn White (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) added a goal, with
Gibbons on the assist before the New Hampshire native scored her third of the
first half on a free position goal. Senior Olivia Salata (Broomall,
Pa./Archbishop Carroll) pushed the lead to 7-0 with 12:22 to play before CCSU's
Betsy Vendel got her squad on the board with 10:52 remaining. Monmouth's
Sam Savona (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Liberty [FDU]) put MU up 8-1, scoring with 34
seconds left in the half.
The Blue Devils cut the lead to 8-3 in the opening minutes
of the second frame, prompting a Monmouth timeout. The Hawks rallied and
Gibbons scored her fourth marker of the game to break up the CCSU scoring run.
The Blue Devils got back to back goals over an eight minute stretch to put the
score at 9-4 but MU answered with consecutive goals from Salata and Gibbons.
Central tallied a goal with 4:08 remaining before Lillo tallied her third goal
to push the score to 12-6. CCSU's Ashley Perkoski scored with four ticks
remaining and the Hawks walked off with a five-goal victory.
The Hawk defense held Vendel, the league's sixth ranked point scorer, to one
goal on the afternoon. MU outshot the Blue Devils 34-20, including a 22-6
margin in the first half, while owning a 29-16 advantage in ground balls.
Gibbons' set a career-high with her five goals and seven points, while going
three for three on free position attempts. Lillo had a trio of goals but also
had five crucial draw controls in the contest.
Blue Devil goalie Erin Delancy, who owns the top goals against average in the
NEC, had 12 saves for CCSU. Perkoski led her squad with three points
while Vendel had six draw controls but just the one goal.
Monmouth returns home on Saturday at 12 p.m. for a home tilt with Bryant
University.
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