WORCESTER, MA- Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team (5-2) used several second half scoring runs to pull away from Holy Cross (4-3) on Saturday in Worcester.
 
Clinging to a 13-12 lead with just over 10 minutes to play senior Nicole Ceraso (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) found the back of the cage on a free position shot that jumpstarted the Monmouth offense. The Hawks controlled the next five minutes of play, outscoring the Crusaders 3-1 to take a 17-13 lead with 5:02 remaining. MU won the ensuing draw control and then forced a pair of turnovers to keep Holy Cross from registering a shot to secure their fifth win.
 
Ceraso had five goals and a pair of assists for seven points while Caroline Bleck (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) had four goals. Three others recorded two goals while senior Sarah Gillogly (Edgewater, MD/South River) had a career-high three assists.
 
The teams were deadlocked at 8-8 after the first 30 minutes with Monmouth yielding a 7-5 lead after three straight goals from Holy Cross' Catherine Guanci, the last of which came with 4:14 left. The Hawks tied it up on Bleck's third goal of the half, then regained the lead early in the second. Holy Cross tied it up with 26:14 left but could not overcome the four-goal run spurred by Allison Turturro's (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) second of the half. Over a 5:29 span the Hawks tallied four unanswered from four different players to give themselves a 13-9 lead. The Crusader's would get to within one goal but no closer.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"I'm really excited about our win today. It was a tough, physical game and we responded very well to the challenge. We are focused on building momentum and we definitely took another step in the right direction today." Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman
 

• Ceraso recorded her 100^th career goal and now has 232 points in 61 games played
• It was the first win in the series for either team on the road
• The Hawks, which came into the game winning 61% of draw controls won 21 of the 32  in the contest
• Megan Hart had 10 draws while Turturro had seven
• Monmouth has now won two-straight over Holy Cross
• MU continues its three-game road stand next week
• Sophomore Hope Steuerwald had a pair of goals 

NUMBERS CRUNCH

• The Hawks were 4-of-8 on free position attempts
• Monmouth goalie Steph Delliturri had six saves in net
• Monmouth outshot Holy Cross 35-28
• Guanci had five points while Izzy Grant had three
• Goalie Grace Flink had 13 saves for the home team 

UP NEXT
Monmouth will head over to Staten Island to face former NEC rival Wagner on Tuesday. Opening draw is slated for 3 PM