WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team (7-2, 7-2 MAAC) withstood a second half run by Manhattan College (0-8, 0-8 MAAC) to earn its seventh victory of the season by a score of 15-11 on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Hawks were led offensively by Caroline Bleck, Marissa Legera and Ally Turturro who each scored a trio of goals. Overall seven different Hawks scored with Chloe Novak and Hope Steuerwald each finding the back of the net two times. Senior Nicole Ceraso led the Hawks in points, dishing out six assists in the contest. Goalie Stephanie Delliturri had 12 saves in between the pipes while defender Gina Verrone corralled 10 draw controls in the win.
 
Monmouth owned a commanding 12-6 lead at halftime with Bleck and Lagera already notching three goals apiece.  The Hawks sprinted out to a 3-0 lead but that evaporated at the 10:40 mark with Manhattan's Grace Lipponer knotting things up at 5-5. The Monmouth offensive machine took over from there, scoring seven goals in the final 9:28 to take a six-goal lead into halftime.
 
The second half saw Manhattans defense stifle the Hawks who would muster just three goals in the final 30 minutes. The Jaspers scored three unanswered in a five minute period then had back to back goals with time winding down but there wasn't enough left to really threaten a comeback attempt.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"I'm thrilled with today's result to complete the weekend sweep of Manhattan. It's been uniquely difficult to play teams twice in one weekend, and we handled this stretch well. Credit to Manhattan for battling us hard and pushing us to play sharp today. The team will have some well-deserved rest and then we are on to the next game." – Monmouth Interim Head Coach Christie Kaestner
 
"Marissa stepped up big time for us today. She's been patient with her playing time and took major advantage of her opportunities today. Both ends of the field and in between benefitted from her game today-I'm so proud of her." – Kaestner on the play of sophomore Marissa Lagera
 

• Monmouth is now 12-0 all-time against Manhattan and 7-0 on the road
• The Hawks are in second place in the MAAC at 7-2 with two games remaining on the schedule
• Lagera recorded her first career goals in the game, including her first career hat trick and added an assist
• Lagera now as six points in two games against Manhattan
• Verrone's 10 draw controls is a career-high
• Ceraso's six assists is tied for third most in a single game and was one off of her personal best
• Bleck added an assist for a four-point afternoon
• Defenders Megan Hart and Brianna Falco each had four draws in the contest
• Manhattan was led by Alaina Burgess' six points.

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• For the second straight game Monmouth was outshot, 35-33
• The Jaspers collected 21 ground balls to 12 for the Hawks
• Manhattan was an abysmal 1-of-12 on free position attempts, Monmouth was 5-of-12 and just 1-of-7 in the second half
• Monmouth dominated the draw controls, 21-7
• The Hawks committed 14 turnovers to 12 by the Jaspers

 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will play Siena on Friday, April 23 at 4 PM in Loudonville, NY.