FINAL SCORE
Monmouth 4 (12-3-1, 7-1-0 MAAC)
Fairfield 1 (6-7-2, 1-4-2 MAAC)

FAIRFIELD, CT – The Monmouth University women's soccer team scored three first-half goals and ran away from Fairfield in a 4-1 victory on Saturday night at Lessing Field.

The victory clinched a top-two finish in the MAAC standings and guarantees a semifinal home game in the conference tournament.

Monmouth opened the scoring in the 16^th minute when Lexie Palladino fired a right-footed shot from 22 yards out that bounced and beat Fairfield keeper Aytana Muschajew. Monmouth doubled the lead in the 40^th minute when Jesi Rossman hammered home a Monmouth corner kick.

The two-goal cushion was short lived as Fairfield's Alex Madden converted Fairfield's best chance of the half 20 seconds later to pull the Stags within one. Monmouth responded with 90 seconds remaining in the half when Jill Conklin pounced on a header by Alli DeLuca and sent it to the back of the net to make it 3-1 before intermission.

Madie Gibson tacked on a fourth goal for the Hawks in the 59^th minute when she finished a rebound by Rossman as Monmouth extended its winning streak to seven.

NOTES & QUOTES
"This was a terrific team performance. We have had a challenging schedule on the road the past few weeks and the team has shown tremendous focus. We are excited to return home for the final two regular season games."
– Head Coach Krissy Turner

- Monmouth secured a top-two finish in the league and will host a semifinal match in the MAAC Tournament.
- Monmouth is in first place in the MAAC standings with 21 points with two games remaining in the regular season.
- Monmouth leads the all-time series against Fairfield 7-1-1.
- The Hawks improved to 7-2-0 away from home this year.
- The Hawks have won seven consecutive games and have outscored their opponents 22-2 during the winning streak.
- Monmouth's seven-game winning streak is its longest since the 2016 season when it also had a seven-game winning streak.
- Monmouth improved its six-year MAAC record to 51-4-3.
- Monmouth reached 12 wins for the sixth consecutive season.
- Monmouth has won 33 straight games when scoring the first goal of the game.
- Monmouth used the same starting lineup for the seventh straight match.
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
- Lexie Palladino netted her sixth goal of 2018 and the 10^th of her career. Palladino is second on the Hawks with 15 points this season and has 28 career points.
- Madie Gibson is tied with Palladino for the team lead with six goals the year. Gibson scored her 25^th career goal and now has 72 career points.
- Gibson ranks 12^th in Monmouth history in points and is the 17^th player in program history to reach the 25-goal milestone.
- Jesi Rossman's goal was her first-career goal and held up to be the game-winning goal. Rossman added an assist on Gibson's goal.
- Jill Conklin put in her second goal of the season and now has nine points to her credit.
- Alli DeLuca, Dana Scheriff and Jessica Johnson each contributed assists for the Hawks.
- Goalkeeper Amanda Knaub made five saves in goal for Monmouth.
- Shots were 18-7 in favor of Monmouth in the game, including a 10-6 shots on goal advantage. Monmouth did not concede a corner kick and took five.

NEXT UP
The Hawks host Niagara on Wednesday morning at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and will kick off at 10 a.m.