WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University's (9-3, 3-0 MAAC) women's lacrosse team moved to 3-0 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play with a 15-12 win over Marist (4-7, 1-2 MAAC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
For the second consecutive game junior Ali Turturro (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) led the Hawks with five goals while sophomore Caroline Bleck (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) finished with four goals. The Hawks took the lead with 3:14 left in the first half and never relinquished it as Monmouth recorded a season-low 11 turnovers en route to their ninth win of the season.
 
After Monmouth opened the scoring just over a minute in, Marist scored four of the next five goals to take an early 4-2 lead.  With the game tied at 5-5, the Hawks scored four goals in the final 3:14 of the first half to take a 9-4 lead going into halftime.
 
Marist came out of halftime scored a pair of goals to cut the Monmouth lead to 9-7 but Bleck and Turturro netted back to back scores to regain a four-goal lead. The two teams traded goals over the next 11 minutes with Samantha Mehalick scoring on a free position with 11:24 left to get her squad within three. Bleck scored two out of the final three Monmouth goals to push the lead to 15-10 with 1:57 to play. Marist scored the final two goals – both off the stick of Mehalick to finish the scoring 15-12.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"I thought that we played really well. Today was one of the first days that we had balanced offense and defense. When one sided needed help the other side supported it and there was good give and take.  We talked about taking care of the ball after last game. Turnovers have been an issue for us and we've highlighted that and brought attention to it. Today we dicided to take care of the ball." Head Coach Jordan Trautman on the win
 
"She's been this good all year but she hasn't been shooting that well up until the last couple of games. I'm not surprised by how well she's playing, this is what she does every day. It is exciting to see it actually come together on game day." Trautman on Ali Turturro's play
 

• Turturro scored five goals in back to back games
• She also had four ground balls and four draw controls
• Monmouth has eclipsed its win total from a season ago with its ninth win of the season
• The Hawks are now 6-3 all-time against Marist and a perfect 3-0 at home
• Bleck scored four goals for the third time in her career
• Monmouth has now won five straight games and six out of its last seven

NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Senior Jenny Staines finished with four points on three goals and an assist
• Monmouth had a season-high 15 free position shots, finding the back of the net on seven of them
• Marist's Delaney Galvin had 11 saves in net while Riley Brager had six
• Red Fox Haley Wagner, who came into the game ranked second in the country in draw controls, finished with 13 in the contest
• Marist held a 18-11 advantage in draws – Rachel Mills had seven to lead the Hawks
• Monmouth held a 33-30 advantage in shots
• The Hawks committed just 11 turnovers in the contest, compared to 15 for Mari

NEXT UP
Monmouth will host Siena next Saturday at 1 PM at Kessler Stadium. That matchup is set to air on ESPN3.