FINAL SCORE
Monmouth 11 (3-3)
VMI 6 (2-5)

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – The Monmouth University men's lacrosse team used a pair of four-goal runs in each half combined with its best defensive effort of the season in an 11-6 victory over VMI on Tuesday afternoon at Kessler Stadium.

Monmouth's defense in front on Noah Lode limited the Keydets to a season-best six goals as the Hawks continued their run of strong defensive performances. On the offensive end, Connor Macrae scored a hat trick for the fourth consecutive game and Max Brooks had a three-goal effort of his own.

Macrae scored three times in the first half as Monmouth built a 5-2 halftime lead before Brooks took over offensively with three second-half scores. Brooks' third goal put the game out of reach as Monmouth went ahead 10-4 with 6:32 to play.  

NOTES & QUOTES
"It felt good to pick up another win this afternoon at home against a well-coached and tough VMI team. Now we have a few days to focus on ourselves before taking the weekend off and begin preparing for our first conference game."
- Head Coach Brian Fisher

- Monmouth earned its eighth consecutive win at Kessler Stadium.
- Monmouth moved to 3-0 all-time against VMI.
- The Blue and White improved to 4-1 all-time against SoCon opponents.
- The Hawks closed non-conference play with a 3-3 record.
- The Hawks wore their white helmets with white jerseys and shorts.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
- Matt Soutar won 14-of-19 faceoffs and led the team with 10 ground balls.
- Soutar became Monmouth's all-time leader in career ground balls with 134, passing Dillon Smart (2017-21).
- Connor Macrae and Max Brooks each scored three goals and added one assist.
- Macrae scored his sixth career hat trick and his 16th goal in his last four games. He leads the team with 17 goals this season and has 31 for his career.
-  Brooks scored his second hat trick of the year and the third of his career. 
- Brooks now has 32 career goals, including nine this season, and 51 career points.
- Brooks became the 11th player in program history to eclipse 50 career points.
- Noah Lode allowed six goals for the second consecutive game. Lode made eight saves in the win.
- Cade Stratton, Andrew Duswalt, Luke Cole, Matt Karsian and Nick Teets each scored once in the win.
- Duswalt, David Cormack, Devin Pipher and Sean Ketchen each contributed one assist.
- Duswalt registered his second multi-point game of the season. He has five points this year and 10 for his career.
- Stratton scored his fifth goal of the year and his 37^th career goal. He now has 10 points this year and 65 for his career. He moved past Eric Berger (2014-17) into seventh on Monmouth's all-time points list.
- Karsian scored his second goal of 2022 and the fourth of his career.
- Cole and Teets scored their fourth and second goals of the year, respectively.
- Cormack has seven points this year and 32 for his career.
- Jack Gertie equaled his career-high with five ground balls. He is tied for second on the team with 16 this season.
- Six different Hawks caused one turnover in the game, including Gertie, who has at least one caused turnover in five straight contests.

NEXT UP
Monmouth begins its pursuit of a second consecutive MAAC Championship on Saturday, March 26 at Quinnipiac. Opening faceoff in Hamden, CT is 1 p.m.