March 23, 2007
Final Stats
Staten Island, NY - Wagner stood tied with Monmouth at halftime before an 11-3 second half outburst by the Hawks gave them an 18-10 victory over the Seahawks women's lacrosse team on a rainy afternoon at Wagner Stadium. After the Northeast Conference opener for both teams, Wagner stands at 0-1 in the league and 1-4 overall. Monmouth improves to 1-0 (NEC) and 6-3 on the year.
Sophomore Kelly Blundin (Plymouth Meeting, PA / Whitemarsh) scored a career best four goals on just four shot attempts to lead the way for Wagner.
Monmouth's Katie Degan, who also finished with four goals, scored in the first 30 seconds of the game for the early 1-0 lead. After another Hawk score on minute later, Blundin answered for Wagner off an assist from sophomore Cara Gonzalez (Syracuse, NJ / Westhill) as the Seahawks trailed 2-1 four minutes into the contest.
Wagner then fell behind 4-1 in the next four minutes of play as Monmouth held a 5-1 edge in draw controls in the first eight minutes of action. The freshmen combo of Teri Noll (Jordan, NY / Jordan-Elbridge) and Janine Bright (Commack, NY / Commack) help bring the team back into the game with consecutive goals as the Seahawks trailed 4-3. Monmouth went right back to work however with two straight goals to put the lead back to 6-3 with 10:25 to play before halftime.
The green and white then started taking over the draw control battle which would help them score three straight goals to even the count at 6-6. Blundin started the rally with an unassisted goal and was followed with another string of consecutive goals by Noll, who was assisted by freshman Alyssa Prima (Medford Lakes, NJ / Shawnee), and Bright who scored on a pretty 8-meter feed by senior Jessica Ellis (Fairport, NY / Fairport).
Megan Nutter placed Monmouth back on top 7-6 at the 4:06 mark with a free position goal, one of her five points on the day. Blundin then found the back of the net one more time before intermission scoring unassisted with 18 seconds left to even the count at 7-7 at halftime and bring the Wagner crowd to its feet.
In the second half it was all Hawks as Monmouth broke the game open scoring five unanswered goals in the first 13 minutes of the period. Ellis finally ended the Wagner scoring drought at 16:30 taking one in off Gonzalez's third assist of the game. Gonzalez, who totaled four points on the day, then joined the scoring column herself as the Seahawks trailed 12-9 with 13 minutes remaining.
The Monmouth quick fire offense would keep the attack up and put the game away scoring six straight in the next eight minutes of action. Blundin added one final score in the closing minute to account for the final margin.
Freshman Alex Johnston (Manlius, NY / Fayetteville-Manlius) made 13 saves, including 10 in the first half for Wagner in her first career start. Monmouth held a 41-24 edge in shots taken. Senior Virginia Hernandez (Huntington Station, NY / Walt Whittman) led the Seahawks with five ground balls.
Ashley Waldman also had five points (three goals) in the game for Monmouth
Wagner is back action Tuesday afternoon at Iona.
1 2 tot.
Monmouth 7 11 18
Wagner 7 3 10
