Box Score West Long Branch, NJ – In its final nonconference game of the season, the Monmouth University women's lacrosse team fell to visiting University of New Hampshire, 9-7, Wednesday afternoon at Monmouth Stadium.
“I think UNH is a good team that is starting to hit their stride at this point in the season,” said Monmouth head coach Eileen Ghent. “We need to use the next days to come out strong in conference play.”
UNH (3-5) struck first as Carly Wooters scored the game's first goal 3:28 into the contest, but Marial Pierce (Middleburg, Va./St. John's Catholic Prep) scored twice and Olivia Higson (Cheadle Hulme, England/Withington Girls' School) netted a goal over a 10 minute span to put the Hawks up 3-1. UNH's Laura McHoul's marker with 14:37 left in the opening half stopped the Hawks' run and brought the Wildcats within one, 3-2. With 4:43 left in the opening half, McHoul set up Catherine Sexton for the equalizer, but the Hawks took a one goal lead into the break when Higson netted her second of the game with 40.7 ticks left.
In the first 30 minutes, the Hawks outshot the Wildcats 11-9 and head a 6-2 advantage in draw controls. Monmouth was successful in seven of eight clear opportunities.
New Hampshire started the second half with three-straight goals, including a pair by Devon Croke, to take a 6-4 lead over an 11-minute span before Michelle Gonzales (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) connected high into the right corner on a free position to bring the Hawks back within one. The two sides exchanged the next four goals as UNH scored an extra-player goal off the stick of Devan Miller with 16:24 before Gonzales answered a minute later with her second of the afternoon off a feed from Alexa Smith. Krissy Schafer and Croke scored five minutes apart to put the Wildcats up three, 9-6.
With 6:28 left, Pierce converted a shorthanded free position for her third goal of the afternoon to bring the Hawks back within two, 9-7. The Blue and White had two shots within the final two minutes, but both attempts went wide of the cage.
In addition to her three points, Pierce forced three Wildcat turnovers, captured six draw controls and collected four ground balls. Caroline Huelster (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) recorded her fifth double digit save performance of the season, stopping 10 Wildcat shots.
Both sides fired 22 shots for the game, while the Hawks earned a 12-6 advantage in the draw control.
Monmouth opens up Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play when it travels to Loudonville, NY for a tilt with Siena on March 26th at noon.
