WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Despite rallying to tie the game up twice in the second half, Monmouth (3-3) women's lacrosse fell to Saint Joseph's (4-2) 14-11 on Saturday afternoon.

Saint Joe's was led by sophomore midfielder Sarah Smith led all players with five goals, while sophomore Olivia Higson (Cheadle Hulme, England/Withington) had three goals for the Blue & White.

“I think today was about making too many mistakes, too many fouls, too many turnovers,” said Head Coach Denise Wescott. “To give them three goals in an empty goal cage, right there are the three goals we lost by today.  In my mind I thought we hurt ourselves today.”

SJU jumped out to a three goal lead in the first 6:27, including a pair of goals by Nora McCallion. Goals by Carly Sane, Higson and Emily Barbieri (Parsippany, N.J./DePaul Catholic) cut the lead to 6-3 before Monmouth launched a three-goal run to tie the game at 6-6 with 1:29 to play. Monmouth turnovers led to a pair of Smith goals with 35 seconds left in the half and the Hawks trailed 8-6.

Barbieri and sophomore Claudia LaMarca (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) notched a pair of goals, with LaMarca's tying the game up with 22:23 left in the game. Saint Joe's Maggie Egan regain the lead briefly before a Marial Pierce (Middleburg, Va./St. John's Catholic Prep) free position goal tied it up 9-9 with 17:26 remaining. Saint Joe's then rattled off three goals from the 16:07 to 5:03 to blow open a 13-9 advantage.  Monmouth tallied a pair of goals late in the half, the second of which came with 1:11 remaining and the Blue & White closed to 13-11. MU was unable to get another on the board but Saint Joseph's scored with one second left to get the 14-11 win.

Higson had four points, including three goals and an assist, while Pierce had two goals and an assist for three points. The junior also had five ground balls and three draw controls.

Smith led all scorers with seven points, including five goals. Kelly Phelan had four points on a goal and three assists while McCallion had three goals.

Saint Joe's led in shots 26-22, but Monmouth was whistled for 46 fouls compared to 28 for SJU. Each team had 20 turnovers while Saint Joe's gathered 17 of the 27 draw controls.

Monmouth, which has played five of six games at home this season, heads to the West Coast next week for games against Fresno State and Oregon.