Box Score WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Niagara University (5-5, 1-1 MAAC) overcame an early deficit and outscored Monmouth University (5-6, 2-1 MAAC) by a 6-3 margin in the second frame to earned 12-8 win.
The Purple Eagle duo of Maria Battista and Carrie-Jo Farrugia combined for eight goals; while Niagara's Andrea Francisco had six saves. Monmouth junior Allison Stathius (Delran, N.J./Delran) led MU with three goals while senior Danielle Rakowitz (Montville, N.J./Montville) finished with a pair of scores.
Niagara jumped out to a two-goal lead early but the Hawks rattled off four straight in a five minute span and appeared to have taken control of the game. Niagara scored a pair of goals in a 37 second span to tie the game before senior Cassie Campasano put MU ahead 5-4 with 8:18 to play. Battista notched her second goal of the game and Kristen Winter added another in the final 7:11 as Niagara took a 7-5 lead into the break.
The two teams traded goals over the first 17 minutes of the second half with Stathius' second goal cutting the lead to 8-7 with 13:31 to play. Niagara put the game out of reach by rattling off four consecutive goals, including three from the stick of Farrugla. Rakowitz finished the scoring with 29 seconds remaining.
The Hawks used two goalies in the contest, with
Katie Donohoe (Peterborough, Ontario/Holy Cross Secondary School) allowing 10 goals and making three saves in 48 minutes of work while Caroline Huestler (Lenape, N.J./Lenape) made one save and gave up two goals in the game.
Emily Barbieri (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) and
Claudia LaMarca (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) scored Monmouth's other two goals.
Farrugia led all scorers with five goals while Battista had a trio of goals. The stat sheet was fairly even as Niagara led in shots 22-18 and committed 13 turnovers compared with 12 for the Hawks.
The Hawks return to the field on Wednesday when they travel up to New York to play Manhattan at 8 p.m.
