Conference

Recap: Championship Game

Monmouth Upends UMBC, 14-9, To Capture First-Ever NEC Women's Lacrosse Championship
Hawks Earn NEC's Automatic Bid To NCAA Tournament

West Long Branch, NJ -- Monmouth University earned its first-ever Northeast Conference Women’s Lacrosse title as the Hawks defeated UMBC 14-9 in the NEC Championship game at Kessler Field in West Long Branch, N.J., on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Hawks earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The victory snapped a three-year string by UMBC (10-7) who had won the crown every year since the Northeast Conference started sponsoring women’s lacrosse in 1998. In each of those three years, UMBC defeated Monmouth (12-7) in the title bout.

Northeast Conference Player of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player Heather Bryan led the Monmouth attack with six goals and one assist. Bryan opened the scoring with a goal just 52 seconds into the contest. Each time UMBC evened the score in the first half, Bryan responded with a goal to give the Hawks a lead again. She tallied a goal with 22:37 remaining in the first half to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead and then scored a goal with 13:29 left until the intermission to give the Monmouth a 5-4 advantage. Bryan added a goal to end the first half and another to start the second half to give MU a 8-4 cushion with 27:50 left in the game.

UMBC’s Renee Tirocchi, the NEC leading goal scorer, trimmed Monmouth’s lead to 8-5 as she talled a goal with 22:04 remaining, but goals by Cheri Brooks, Meg Brown and Stacy Sydlo boosted the Hawks’ advantage to 11-5.

The Retriever’s Katie Pickett and Monmouth’s Stephenie LaGrossa exchanged goals to make the score 12-6 with 16:19 remaining.

With a baker’s dozen left on the clock, UMBC appeared to get a second wind as Stephanie Allen and Lauren Traber tallied goals within 12 seconds of each other to trim the lead to 12-8, but that is as close as the Retrievers would come.

For Monmouth, Meg Brown complemented Bryan’s arsenal with three goals.  Brooks, Lisa Cherill, Sydlo, LaGrossa and Rebekah Murphy each added goals for the Hawks.

Pickett, Traber and Jamie Gerhart each carded two goals for the Retrievers. Allen, Tirocchi and Ashley Staines chipped in with one goal apiece.

The site, date and time of Monmouth’s NCAA Tournament game will be determined on Sunday afternoon.

Recap: Semifinal #2

UMBC Stops Wagner, 10-5, To Reach NEC Women's Lacrosse Title Game
Retrievers & Hawks Set To Battle For Title For Fourth Straight Year

West Long Branch, NJ -- UMBC and Monmouth won their respective semifinal contests on Thursday afternoon to advance to the championship game of the Northeast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Tournament. UMBC defeated Wagner 10-5 at Kessler Field in West Long Branch, N.J., in the second semifinal game to set up the rematch.

In an inauspicious first half, the Seahawks and Retreivers played to a 2-2 draw. Wagner struck first with goals by Krissie Fischer and Julie Rudderow to take a 2-0 lead with 22:12 remaining until the intermission. UMBC chipped away at the lead as Renee Tirocchi scored an unassisted goal and Jen Dragoni scored on a free position shot.

UMBC took control of the game early in the second half as Amanda Eldridge scored 2:30 into the stanza on an assist from Jamie Gerhart. Gerhart scored an unassisted goal with 21:14 remaining to give the Retrivers a 4-2 advantage. After 10 scoreless minutes, Tirocchi scored two goals in just over a minute to push the advantage to 6-2 with under 10 minutes left in the contest.

The Retrievers’ arsenal was led by Tirocchi with four goals. Gerhart added two goals and one assist. Amy Jagoda made six saves in goals to earn the complete-game victory.

Wagners’ London Jones made 19 saves in goal, but could not hold off the relentless UMBC offense that fired 41 shots. Fischer led the Seahawk offense with two goals and two assists.

UMBC has swept each of the three NEC Championship meetings with Monmouth. The Retrievers edged the Hawks 12-11 in the inaugural NEC title match in 1998. In 1999, UMBC was victorious 15-9 and last season thee Retrievers clipped Monmouth 13-12. The first two meetings were in Baltimore, Md., and last year’s confrontation was in Staten Island, N.Y.

The NEC Championship game is slated for Saturday, May 5 at Kessler Field. First draw is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Recap: Semifinal #1

Monmouth Defeats Mount St. Mary's, 18-6, To Advance To NEC Women's Lacrosse Title Game

West Long Branch, NJ -- Monmouth University advanced to the championship game of the Northeast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Tournament for the fourth consecutive season as the Hawks defeated Mount St. Mary’s 18-6 in the first of two NEC semifinal games Thursday afternoon at Kessler Field.

Monmouth took control of the contest early as the Hawks tallied the first three goals of the contests. In the first 11:54, Stacy Sydlo registered two goals and an assist to give the Hawks a 3-0 advantage. Mount St. Mary’s trimmed one goal of the lead with 17:30 remaining, but Monmouth went on to score four goals in a four minutes span to build a 7-1 cushion with 12:46 left in the half. The Hawks went into the intermission with a 8-4 lead.

Monmouth’s defense, led by goalkeeper Stacy Makris allowed just two goals in the second half to dim any Mountaineer comeback hopes.

The Hawks’ offense was led by Sydlo with four goals and two assists. Meg Brown chipped in with three goals and one assist. Jess Salvesen tallied two goals and three assists.

The Mountaineers’ assault was sparked by Ashley Rusk with two goals and two assists. NEC Freshman of the Year Erin Gargan added two goals.

Monmouth advances to the NEC Championship game on Saturday, May 5.