WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- For the second consecutive season Monmouth women's lacrosse team (1-1) defeated rival Rutgers University (1-1), this time handing the Scarlet Knights a 12-10 loss at Monmouth Stadium.

The win was the first for first year head coach Eileen Ghent, who played at Rutgers from 2008-2011.

"Getting this first win of the season starts us out on right track and to earn the win at home was important, I'm glad it worked out the way it did," said Ghent. "I think it was an important win for all of us, it did make it a little sweeter that it was against Rutgers but because they are a good team and for us to beat a good team like Rutgers it means a lot for our program."

The Hawks were led by sophomore Kate Ryan (Morton, PA/Springfield) who notched a career-high five goals while adding three ground balls in the win. Ryan scored four of her goals over the first 21 minutes as Monmouth built a 7-0 lead with 9:20 left in the first half. Rutgers answered with four goals in the final 8:38 to cut the Hawk advantage to 8-4 going into the break.

"Once Kate starts to get momentum it is hard to slow her down and I think we saw that today," said Ghent. She's one of our toughest players, she goes for ground balls and does what is expected of her. 

Today she happened to find the back of the net more than a few times and that capped off an overall great performance."

It was a great defensive effort that staved off the Scarlet Knight attack in the second half, led by senior goalie Caroline Huelster (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) who had two of her five second half saves in the final 36 seconds of play. Rutgers scored the first two goals of the second half before sophomore Caroline Corbliss (Marriottsville, MD/Marriott Ridge) tallied her lone goal of the game to push the lead to 9-7. The teams traded goals over an eight minute stretch with Michelle Gonzales (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) giving the Hawks an 11-8 lead with 9:18 remaining. Just over a minute later Kristina Dunphy cut the lead to two before Haley Barnes scored her fourth goal of the game with 2:57 to play, making the score 11-10. That's the closest the Big Ten team would get as Marial Pierce (Middleburg, VA/St. John's Catholic Prep) scored an insurance goal just 1:27 remaining before Huelster turned away two late opportunities to preserve the win.

"Caroline was ready to be a starter probably last year, but having to sit behind Katie (Donohoe) gave her some wisdom of what to do in certain situations and I think that paid off today," said Ghent. "She works extremely hard and with the help of Coach Clothier she has taken her game to another level in terms of her clearing and staying patient in goal. She has our defense to help her but Caroline definitely stepped up today and made big saves when we needed her to."

Barnes had six points on four goals and two assists while Dunphey and Emily Santana each had two goals for the Scarlet Knights. Two Rutgers goaltenders combined for five saves.

Ryan had five goals to lead all scorers while and Olivia Higson (Cheadle Hulme, England/Withington Girls School) each ended with four points. Higson had a trio of goals for the Blue & White. Gonzales had a goal and an assist while also forced two turnovers in the game. Preseason All-MAAC defender Kristina Vangeli (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) had four ground balls, four draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers in the win. Huelster finished with three ground balls and a caused turnover to go along with a career-high nine saves.

Rutgers held a slight edge in shots (23-22) and draw controls (12-11) while each team committed 15 turnovers in the contest.

Monmouth is back on the road Saturday as they face Lafayette at 5:00 PM