WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Ashley Lavrich converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute to erase a late deficit as the Monmouth University women's soccer team battled FDU to a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn.
The Hawks moved to 2-1-2 on the season and extended their unbeaten streak to three matches. Monmouth finished with a 20-15 advantage in shots, including a 10-6 edge in the opening half, while putting seven attempts on target.
After a scoreless first 45 minutes, Monmouth scored early in the second half before the Knights rallied with back-to-back goals. Lavrich converted from the dot in the waning seconds to tie it, her fourth tally this season and the third in the last two games. Freshman Saar van der Boom, who picked up an assist in Thursday's 3-0 win over Army, scored the first goal of her young career on Sunday afternoon.
Maddie DeMaio and Evangeline Perdomo were each credited with assists against the Knights, giving DeMaio points in two straight outings and Perdomo her first point of 2026
Monmouth controlled much of the early action and created the first opportunity less than four minutes into the match when Chloe Messer sent an attempt wide. Lavrich followed with a blocked shot in the ninth minute before Messer had another chance narrowly miss in the 14th. Evangeline Perdomo, van der Boom and Loren Gehret also generated attempts as the Hawks continued to spend time in the attacking third.
Despite Monmouth's 10 first-half shots, the teams entered the halftime break scoreless.
After 20 minutes of consistent pressure to open the second half, Monmouth finally found the opening goal in the 65th minute.
DeMaio and Perdomo combined to set up van der Boom, who delivered a strike into the side netting to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage for her first-career goal.
FDU responded just over four minutes later and struck again in the 85th minute to give the Knights their first lead of the afternoon, 2-1.
Brooke De Almeida and DeMaio both had chances in the 86th minute before DeMaio forced another save from Leblanc at 87:15. The pressure eventually produced a penalty kick with just 37 seconds remaining when Perdomo was tripped making a run into the 18-yard box.
Lavrich stepped to the spot and converted her second penalty in the last two games, tying the match at 2-2 with her team-leading fourth goal of the season. It marked Monmouth's first game-tying goal in the 90th minute since 2011 against Navy.
Lavrich finished with a team-high four shots, including two on goal, while DeMaio added four attempts and two shots on target to go along with an assist. Van der Boom scored on one of her two shots, and Perdomo added an assist. Graduate netminder Tallulah Miller made four saves over the full 90 minutes for the Hawks.
The draw keeps Monmouth unbeaten in its last three games and in four of its five outings this season. The Hawks will look to get back in the win column on Thursday when they welcome St. John's to West Long Branch for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
