WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- The Monmouth University women's lacrosse team won their third straight match as they defeated defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion LeMoyne 15-10 Sunday afternoon at Kessler Field. The Hawks improve to 5-1 while the Dolphins fall to 3-2.

The MU offense was paced by junior Megan Nutter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) who scored a career-high six goals, while Katie Degen (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore) added three goals and two assists. Carolyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va. /W.T. Woodson) added three goals and an assist as well in the victory.

LeMoyne jumped out in front of the Hawks 3-0 in the first seven minutes as three different Dolphins tallied scores. MU answered with an 8-0 scoring run the rest of the first half, began when Raveia scored on a free position opportunity at the 19:25 mark. Ashley Waldman (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) then added a free position goal of her own five minutes later, as Raveia scored on a Degen assist four minutes later to tie the game at 3-3. MU took the lead for good when Colleen Burg (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) scored off a feed from Degen to make the game 4-3, and Nutter and Degen alternated scoring the next four MU goals to put the Blue and White up 9-3 with 25:32 left in the game.

Amanda Keegan broke the Monmouth scoring streak for LeMoyne to make the game 9-4 two minutes later. Nutter then added another free position goal, followed by Megan Brennan (King of Prussia, Pa. /Archbishop Carroll) scoring an unassisted goal to make the score 11-4. Nutter and Raveia would each add another goal, but the Dolphins responded with a 5-0 scoring run to close the gap to 13-9 with eight minutes remaining. Nutter would tally two more goals to give MU some breathing room, before LeMoyne's Lauren Bryne scored a late goal for the 15-10 final.

In addition to her six goals, Nutter added three groundballs and five draw controls, while Degen added five draw controls as well. Monica Johnson (Radnor, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) added 14 saves, including stifling a LeMoyne free position chance with four minutes to go, to improve to 5-1 on the season.

MU was a perfect 12-12 on clears, while also converting 7-14 free position chances into goals. The Blue and White had 19 draw controls compared to nine for LeMoyne and outshot the Dolphins 36-28.

The Hawks return to action on Wednesday, March 14 when they host in-state foe Rutgers at Kessler Field at 4:00 p.m.

2007-03-11