HAMDEN, CT- Monmouth University (12-5, 6-2 MAAC) women's lacrosse team wrapped up the 2019 regular season with a 19-12 win over Quinnipiac (5-11, 2-6) to earn its 12^th win of the season and secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
For the second straight game the Monmouth offense scored 19 points, with Nicole Ceraso (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) lead the way with seven points on four goals and three assists. Rachel Mills (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic/Towson) had four goals while Jenny Staines (Silver Spring, MD/Good Counsel) had four goals and an assist. In all, nine different Hawks registered goals in the game.
 
Quinnipiac scored four of the first five goals of the second half to close to within 12-8 but Monmouth responded by scoring six of the next seven over a nine-minute period to put themselves up 18-9. The Bobcats scored three in the final 6:40 to close the gap but ultimately lost by seven. Monmouth dominated the first 30 minutes of play, allowing just eight shots on goal en route to a 11-4 halftime lead. Six different Hawks scored, with Ceraso and Mills each registering a hat trick in the first frame.
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"I am so proud of what our girls did today and what we've accomplished in the regular season. We are playing our best lacrosse right now and we will have a lot of lacrosse left to play if we keep showing up the way we have been the last 3 weeks." Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman
 

• Monmouth is now 22-5 all-time against Quinnipiac and have not lost to the Bobcats since the 2012 season
• With the win the Hawks secure the second seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament hosted by top-seeded Fairfield. Monmouth at 6-2 in conference play, is the number 2 seed due to tie breaking procedures that came down to goals allowed against the other two 6-2 teams (Manhattan and Siena). That tiebreaker was goals allowed against the Jaspers and Siena- which turned out to be 18.
• Ceraso finished the week with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists. Earlier this week she became Monmouth's all-time leader in assists with 105. She has 80 points on the season which is the fourth most in a single season and just two away from taking over third.
• Monmouth's 12-win regular season is the most since the 2008 season when the Hawks had 13 wins.
• Allison Turturro recorded her 50^th point of the season, finishing with one goal on one shot
• The Hawks finish with a 7-3 road record
• Megan Hart, who already owns the single-season draw record, had six draws, two caused turnovers and two ground balls in the contest. Hart has 169 draw controls which is third all-time at Monmouth, chasing only Mariel Pierce (181) and Kristina Vangeli (232).
• Monmouth, which came into the week with the league's highest scoring offense per game at 13.00 gpg, scored 35 in two wins
• The Hawks have now qualified for post-season conference play for the 22^nd time – all but one year Monmouth was eligible for a conference tournament

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Monmouth outshot QU 30-26 but only had two free position opportunities compared to five for the Bobcats
• Riley Brager made seven saves in net for the Blue & White
• The Hawks held a slight 18-15 edge in draw controls while committing 15 turnovers compared to 19 for QU
• Emily Holtz had two caused turnovers while Monica Cortes led the Hawks with three ground balls
• Logan Smet chipped in two goals for MU while Caroline Bleck had four points on a goal and three assists

 
NEXT UP
Monmouth will await the first round games to see who their opponent will be on  May 2 in Fairfield, CT.