WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Monmouth University's (6-5, 2-0 MAAC) women's lacrosse team outscored Niagara (5-5, 1-1 MAAC) 8-1 over the final 18:11 of Saturday's contest to complete a second half comeback and remain undefeated in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.

The Hawks found themselves down 10-7 with 18:44 to play after Niagara scored three of the first four goals of the second half to expand its one-point halftime lead. Sophomore Caroline Corbliss (Marriottsville, MD/Marriott's Ridge) assisted on back to back goals over a 29 second span, the first going to Kate Ryan (Morton, Pa./Springfield) and the second to Alexa Smith (Westhampton Beach, NY/Westhampton Beach). Junior Ashley Cross (Great Falls, VA/Bishop O'Connell) tied the game up 10-10 with 17:30 before Corbliss scored her second of the game on a free position shot to give Monmouth's it's first lead since the 21 minute mark of the first half. 

Smith, who scored five goals for the third time this season, tallied her fourth goal to put MU up 12-10. Niagara's Jillian Ford scored to cut the Purple Eagle deficit to one with 11:46 but the Hawks scored the final three goals of the game to ice the 15-11 win.

"The win today puts in a good position within the conference, this league is tough from top to bottom so to start out 2-0 is an accomplishment," said Monmouth Head Coach Eileen Ghent. "I think the turning point in the game was when Kristina was able to get the draw then finish it with a goal, that was the momentum change that we needed. In the second half, outscoring Niagara 9-4 was huge. Our draws really helped but our defense held it down and our attack was able to finish on more opportunities.

Vangeli's goal with 2:31 left in the first half preceded Pierce's second goal of the half which cut the halftime deficit to 7-6. Monmouth started the game off by answering Niagara's goal with three of their of own to go up 3-1 with 21:25 to play. Niagara went on a three-goal run of its own over a four minute span to retake the lead at 4-3. Pierce tallied her first goal with 12:17 left to tie the game but the Purple Eagles rattled off the next three goals to take a 7-4 lead with 2:40 to play. Nine seconds later Vangeli scored her first goal of the season to spark the comeback.

Seven different Hawks scored in the game, led by Smith's five. Corbliss finished with four points on two goals and two assists while Pierce and Ryan each had three points on two goals and an assist. Pierce also had six draws and two ground balls with three caused turnovers. Vangeli had three ground balls and two caused turnovers to compliment her first goal of the season. Netminder Caroline Huelster (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) had six saves but also gathered six ground balls and forced a pair of turnovers.

"I think the team is definitely maturing but we are also are relying on a variety different people," said Ghent. "We made some adjustments in the second half that brought new people on the field and they rose to occasion and took advantage of the opportunity. We had seven different people score and over half of our goals were assisted and that proves our versatility and our ability to adjust in tough situations."

Wolf had three goals and a pair of assists for five points while Samantha Brill and Caroline Crump each had two goals in the loss. Niagara's  Andrea Francisco had four saves. 

Monmouth outshot Niagara 27-22 while the Purple Eagles held a 15-13 advantage in draw controls. The Blue and White were 4-of-5 on free positions while Niagara was 2-of-4 on eight meter opportunities.

Monmouth looks to stay unbeaten in conference play on Wednesday when they face Manhattan in a 3 PM tilt.