WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Despite outscoring Bryant University 5-2 in the second half, Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team was unable to overcome a five-goal first half deficit, eventually falling 10-8 to the Bulldogs on Kessler Field Saturday.

The Hawks trailed by five at the start of the second half but MU sophomore Kaleigh Gibbons (Candia, N.H./Manchester Central/RMU) scored her first of two goals to cut the Bryant lead to 8-4. Bryant senior Lauren Sheridan scored back to back goals within three minutes of each other, which would be the only two goals the Hawk defense would allow in the second half.  Trailing 10-4 with 17:33 remaining, Monmouth scored five straight goals to close out the game, including two from freshman Allison Stathius (Delran, N.J./Delran). Her final goal came with 1:57 remaining and the Hawks ultimately fell by a score of 10-8

"We fought so hard in the second half and I was really proud of how we came back but we just ran out of time," said head coach Denise Wescott.  "There are times when we need to make big plays and we just didn't do that today."

With the win, Bryant improves to 4-8 overall and 3-2 in NEC play. Monmouth is 3-3 in league play and 4-10 overall.

Monmouth fell behind 8-3 to Bryant in the first half after the Bulldogs launched a six goal unanswered streak.  Stathius scored the first goal of the game, streaking through the middle of the defense and beating Bryant goalie Lauren Filippone low at the 23:07 mark. Bryant's Lauren Sheridan tied it up with 18:33 showing the clock. The Bulldogs took over from there, scoring five more unanswered goals over the next six minutes. Bulldog leading scorer Haley Bloom gave her squad the lead 39 seconds later, with Sheridan and Katherine Keckeisen adding goals to take a 6-1 advantage with 11:16 left in the first half. Monmouth defender Gianna D'Urso (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex Regional) took the ball out of the defensive zone and went all the way to the Bulldog net where she was awarded an eight meter attempt after being fouled hard. D'Urso, an all-conference midfielder in 2010, buried the shot for MU's second goal of the game. Bloom scored back to back goals over a two minute span to push the lead to 8-2. Lillo tallied her first goal of the game with 57 seconds left to cut the halftime lead to five.

Stathius finished with three goals and two draw controls while Gibbons had three points on two goals and an assist. Sheridan finished with five goals, while Bloom had three. Filippone backstopped the Bulldogs with 12 saves, four ground balls and four caused turnovers. Donohoe had nine saves in net for Monmouth.

Monmouth was whistled for 39 fouls in the contest compared to just 16 for the Bulldogs. Bryant was four-of-eight on free position shots but the Hawks owned a 25-22 advantage in overall shots.

Monmouth will face Wagner on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 3 p.m. on Staten Island.