Box Score WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Monmouth University (1-5) women's lacrosse team earned its first win of the season with a wire-to-wire victory over Siena (1-5), Saturday afternoon on Kessler Field.

Monmouth jumped out to a commanding 7-1 lead in the first half, with MU netminder Katie Donohoe (Peterborough, Ontario/Holy Cross Secondary) keeping the Saints out off the scoreboard for the first 26 minutes of the game. Over that span freshman Marial Pierce (Middleburg, Va./St. John's Cathlic), sophomore Meaghan Hess (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens) and junior Kaleigh Gibbons (Candia, N.H./Central/RMU) scored a pair of goals each with senior Erica Abendschoen (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) adding a goal for the six-goal first half cushion.

"It feels great to get our first win, the scoreboard hadn't been working in our direction over the first five games, said head coach Denise Wescott)." We've been working hard to improve, I thought we played well against Lafayette but didn't get the "W", so it is always good to get a victory under your belt.

"Today was the best I've ever seen our team allow different players do the things they do well," said Wescott. "I think our players were very selfless today. Marial is so athletic, she reads the game well and she's a competitor. I love having her on the field because she'll fight for the ball, she comes up with ground balls and creates second and third scoring opportunities for herself. Meaghan took her defender to the goal and scored, including a couple times on the crease roll. Katie (Donohoe) is just such a great player. We had to remind her of how good she is after the Lafayette game. She has confidence in herself, she's been in the cage since her first day here which should give her confidence. The team knows how great she is and having that support behind her is important."

After playing 13:11 of scoreless lacrosse, Peirce got the Hawks going when she beat Saint goalie Ashley Holdridge. Pierce scored against 1:15 later to put the Hawks up 2-0, with Abendschoen, Gibbons and Hess combing for four more consecutive goals for a 6-0 Hawk lead. Siena's Lauren Smith broke the run with 4:08 to play but Hess, who tallied a career-high three goals on four shots, scored once more with 2:30 to play in the first half.

Monmouth's Allison Stathius (Delran, N.J./Delran) tallied the first goal of the second frame to give MU a 8-1 advantage but back to back Siena Goals from Katie Maguire and Alyssa Treanor sliced the lead to three with 24:24 to play. Gibbons answered Treanor's goal 29 seconds later for a 9-3 Hawk lead. MU outscored Siena 3-1 late in the second half with goals from Hess, Pierce and freshman Michelle Gonzales ().Maguire tallied the final goal of the game at the 1:48 mark and Monmouth would go on to win 12-5.

Donohoe finished with eight total saves, five ground balls and a caused turnover. The two Siena goalies had six saves on the day. Monmouth held a advantage in shots (28-18), ground balls (24-18) and in draw controls (10-9).

Gibbons dominated with four points, six ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control. Hess finished with three goals, Pierce had three goals, four ground balls and two draw controls. Junior defender Kelly Dalton (Ellicott City, Md./Mount DeSales) had two of Monmouth's six caused turnovers and added two ground balls on the day.

Maguire had three points on two goals and an assist to lead the Saints. Three Siena players had goals in the loss.

The Hawks return home on Wednesday, March 13 when they host Saint Joe's at 3 p.m.