WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Senior Cori Allen (Gibbsboro, NJ/Eastern Regional [Iowa]) registered four points on a goal and two assists, freshman Gab Girardi (Roseland, NJ/West Essex) scored her first collegiate goal, and junior Alyssa Ercolino (West Long Branch, NJ/Shore Regional) added an insurance marker as the Monmouth University field hockey team earned a 3-1 win over visiting Towson University, Sunday afternoon at So Sweet A Cat Field. The Hawks, who outshot the Tigers 24-3 and earned 18 penalty corners while yielding just one defensive corner, snap a four-game losing streak to improve to 3-5, while Towson falls to 1-7 on the year with the defeat.
"We were able to create a lot of attack today through our central players," said ninth-year head coach Carli Figlio. "Casey Hanna, Rachel Konowal and Cori Allen really spearheaded the attacking opportunities that we had. It's was nice to have different players score and it's always good to put another victory in the win column. We need to start focusing on ourselves and being able to take that next step because the competition in the next few weeks will get intense."
Towson jumped ahead in the fifth minute of the game, scoring on its lone corner of the afternoon. A loose ball found its way to the right of cage along the end line to the stick of Devon Hake who sent a cross in front where Same Zelenack one-timed it to the back of the cage for the 1-0 lead.
Monmouth got on the board in the 20th minute when Allen sent a hard feed from 20 yards out towards the center of the circle. Girardi got a stick on the ball and deflected it inside the far post for her first career marker.
Ercolino inserted a penalty corner two and a half minutes later to the top of the circle. Junior Casey Hanna (Seaville, NJ/Ocean City) collected the stopped ball and dished to Allen who sent a strike past Towson goalkeeper, Emilee Woodall, for the 2-1 lead heading into the break.
Monmouth, which outshot Towson 13-2 and earned 11 corners in the second half, added an insurance goal in the 54th minute when Allen's shot on a corner play towards the far post was tipped in by Ercolino for her second goal of the season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Christen Piersanti (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) turned away one shot for her third victory of the year.
Monmouth returns to action next weekend when it travels to Northeastern on Friday, September 25th before returning home to host nationally-ranked University at Albany on Sunday, September 27th.
