NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Monmouth University's (8-3, 2-0 MAAC) women's lacrosse team scored five unanswered goals over a four-minute span to top Iona (1-10, 0-2 MAAC) on Wednesday afternoon in New Rochelle, NY.
 
Junior Allison Tuturro (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) scored five Monmouth goals on five shots while Nicole Ceraso (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) had eight points in the win. In her first game for the Blue & White freshman Hope Steuerwald (Manorville, NY/Eastport South Manor) had a pair of goals and an assist in the win. Defensively the Hawks didn't allow a goal in the second half until the 12:54 mark and only allowed two in the second frame.
 
Leading by one to start the second half Monmouth launched an offensive assault from the 25:56 mark until 22:24, scoring five unanswered goals to take a 12-6 lead. Scoring then came at a premium for the next 10 minutes until the Gaels tallied a goal from the stick of Emma Rippon. Gabriele Thornton would score her second of the game to close the game to 12-8 with 4:34 but Ceraso notched her third goal with 51 seconds remaining to ice the game.
 
Monmouth raced out to a 3-1 lead in the first 10 minutes with goals from Turturro and Ceraso but the game was deadlocked at 5-5 with 7:52 to play. Turturro and Caroline Bleck scored back to back goals to put the Hawks up 7-5 but Iona's Nora Carpenter deposited one with 3:02 left to cut the halftime lead to one.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"It is exciting to win a conference game, stating off 2-0 in the MAAC is exactly where we wanted to be. We need to take care of business one game at a time, one step at a time, that is our main goal and so far we are doing that. "Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman
 
We just kept playing. Right now we are working through things, generally speaking that is how our games are going. We are working through different things, taking shots and making plays defensively. That's what happened today, we worked through it and then things started to fall in the second half." Trautman on the team's play coming out of halftime
 
"They are close friends, they talk a lot about the game, they do a lot of things lacrosse-wise. There is just a really good working and personal relationship with them. Ally was exceptional today in scoring. She hasn't been shooting great recently but has kept going and has worked on it by taking extra shots and doing all the things she can do. We were confident that those shots would start falling and they did today." Trautman on the chemistry between Turturro and Ceraso.
 
"I feel like as a unit everyone stepped up, cuts were open. When we go fast and play hard everything works out well. Film this week was really good because we saw some opportunities that we could exploit." Junior Ally Turturro
 

• Ceraso's five assists in the contest gave her 93 for her career, moving her into sole possession of 2^nd place all-time at Monmouth past Jeanette Stott
• Turturro's five goals ties a career-high (Brown, 2018)
• She now needs just 11 to become the Hawks' all-time leader. Her five assists ties a career-high set against Siena last season
• The Hawks are now 8-3 on the season and have won four consecutive contests and five out of their last six
• Megan Hart led all players with eight draw controls, giving her 66 for the season which third most in a single season at Monmouth. The junior has 118 for her career, which is ninth all-time
• The teams were issued a total of eight cards in the contest, seven of which went to Monmouth players the most in the last 10 years
• Steuerwald is one of four freshman to play for the Hawks this season and the only one to register a point

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Monmouth is 6-1 all-time against Iona, including a 2-1 mark in New Rochelle
• Senior goalie Riley Brager made nine saves in net for the Hawks
• Monmouth committed 27 turnovers in the contest, compared to 21 for the Gaels
• The Hawks won 15 of 23 draw controls, including six of nine in the second half
• Iona held a 24-23 advantage in shots but MU had 19 of 23 on goal
• Turturro also had three ground balls and three draw controls in the game
• Sophomore defender Emily Holtz had a career-high four caused turnovers and three ground balls

 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will face Marist at home on Saturday on Hesse Field. That game, slated to air on ESPN3 will being at 4 PM.