WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Senior Cori Allen (Gibbsboro, NJ/Eastern Regional [Iowa]) registered her first career multi-goal game, but the Monmouth University field hockey team fell to visiting Temple University, 4-2, Friday afternoon at So Sweet A Cat Field. Alyssa Delp registered a hat trick for the Owls, who improve to 3-4 with the win, while the Hawks slip to 2-5 on the year.
Delp opened the scoring exactly 11 minutes in when she collected a loose ball at the top of the circle and sent a blast past Monmouth's keeper, Christen Piersanti (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) to give the Owls an early 1-0 lead.
The Hawks responded 3:06 later when a corner insert by Alyssa Ercolino (West Long Branch, NJ/Shore Regional) was stopped by Meg Donahue (Wyomissing, PA/Berks Catholic) and converted by Allen for her first of the game.
Monmouth jumped ahead 2-1 in the 18th minute when a tackle near mid-field by sophomore Sydney Southard (Lorton, VA/South County) sprung the Monmouth attack. Donahue carried the ball into the circle and dished off to a trailing Allen who blasted a shot past the Owls' keeper, Haley Mitchell, to take the one-goal lead.
Delps' unassisted tally in the 29th minute knotted the game heading into halftime. The senior converted the hat trick 10:17 into the second half, successfully converting a penalty corner set play to give TU a 3-2 lead. Sarah Deck got into the scoring mix in the 58th minute, finishing a feed from Ali Meszaros which gave the Owls and insurance goal.
Following a self-start with nine minutes left, junior Casey Hanna (Seaville, NJ/Ocean City) played the ball to the left side to graduate Casey Higgins (Florham Park, NJ/West Essex [UConn]) who played a long pass down the sideline to Donahue behind the Owls' defensive line. The sophomore dribbled into the circle, cut right and sent a shot that was pushed aside by Mitchell to preserve the two-goal lead. Mitchell and the Owls' defense handled a MU penalty corner and another shot attempt in the remaining eight minutes to earn the 4-2 victory.
All of Allen's five shots were on target to lead the Hawks, while Donahue and freshman Teresa Warner (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Sacred Heart) each had a pair of attempts.
For the game, Temple held a slight edge in shots, 12-10, and controlled the penalty corners, 9-3.
Monmouth returns to home on Sunday, September 20th, when it hosts Towson at noon.
-@MonmouthFH-
