WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ-  Monmouth University's (11-5, 5-2) women's lacrosse team used a dominant effort on both sides of the ball to earn its fifth conference win of the year and guarantee a spot in the upcoming Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday, dispatching Manhattan College (10-5, 5-2 MAAC) 19-5.
 
Monmouth's offense exploded as the junior tandem of Allison Turturro (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) and Nicole Ceraso (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) combined for 16 total points. Turturro recorded a career-high eight goals while Ceraso set the Monmouth all-time record assists record with 105 assists after dishing out seven helpers in the game. Monmouth senior goalie Riley Brager (Reisterstown, MD/Roland Park Country) made 10 saves in the contest, including eight in the first half as the Hawks built a 9-2 lead. Jenny Staines (Silver Spring, MD/Good Counsel) and Caroline Bleck (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) also chipped in with three goals apiece.
 
Manhattan got on the board first just 51 seconds in the game, then took a 2-1 lead with 27:33 left but that was the last time the Jaspers were in the game as Monmouth scored eight straight to close out the half. During that run Turturro scored four goals from the 18:54 to the 5:20 mark en route to her eight-goal afternoon. Bleck and Turturro scored the first five Monmouth goals as MU led 14-4 with 18:53 remaining in the game.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
 
"We are in championship play right now, every game including regular season games are championship mentality. We talked about every game from here on out are 'do or die'. I've always wanted to be part of a program that is peaking at the right time and I'm confident that we are doing that. We needed to come up with second chance opportunities, I think Manhattan has been very successful this season off of second-chance balls, ground balls and scrap plays. I thought we eliminated those opportunities and when we were presented with those opportunities we took control of them." Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman
 
"It is amazing, anytime you can coach someone to a record you know that she's doing the right thing and we are doing the right thing as a coaching staff. I'm really proud of Christie [Kaestner] and the time she puts in with Nicole and its Nicole's opportunity and she took that and has done a terrific job and has a lot of lacrosse left to play." Trautman on Ceraso's record
 
"It means a lot to me but I honestly wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates and the win means more to me. Our offense has been working all week on movement and spreading out and we did a good job today, our offense completely took over." Nicole Ceraso on the breaking the record
 

• Coming into the game Ceraso needed five assists to break Rachel Tringali's assist record set in the 2000. Her seven assists is a career-high and is the second most ever in a contest by a Hawk
• Ceraso now has 40 assists this season, one away from tying the single-season mark set by Jeneatte Stott set in 2006. Her 71 points is the sixth most in a single season at MU
• Allison Turturro scored her 47^th goal of the season which is the 10^th most in school history. The junior now has 88 goals and 93 career points
• Her seven goals ties her for second most in a game, with the MU record sitting at eight held by three former Hawks
• Monmouth dominated the draw, 17-9, including a 13-1 advantage in the second half. Junior Megan Hart had 10 of those draws, giving her 90 on the season and 167 shooting her from fifth to third all-time
• The Hawks came into the game with the league's highest scoring average at 13.0 points per game then piled on 19 in the contest which is the most goals scored since the 2013 season

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Monmouth held a 33-24 advantage in shots
• The Hawks committed 13 turnovers, compared to 12 for the Jaspers
• Sarah Gillogly had two goals for MU for the second consecutive game
• Manhattan had five different goal scorers in the game
• Turturro scored eight goals on nine shots on goal
• Freshman Alynne Abney had three caused turnovers
• Emily Holtz let the Hawks with four ground balls
• It is the fourth time this season that Ceraso has recorded eight points in a game

 
NEXT UP
Monmouth will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Quinnipiac. The game with the Bobcats is slated to start at 1 PM