March 15, 2009
Final Stats
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - A four goal outburst in the early minutes of the second half helped lift Monmouth (1-5) to a 15-12 victory over Villanova (1-4) in a women's lacrosse game played here on Sunday afternoon. Junior Erica Rybinski led the Wildcats with four goals and a pair of assists while senior Taryn McKenna added four goals and an assist.
Villanova jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage on the strength of goals from Julie Shelman and a pair from McKenna before the contest was two minutes old. But the Hawks fought back with four straight scores of their own, capped by an unassisted Rachel Feirstein goal at 14:38. Rybinski tied it up for VU at 13:12 and the teams then traded goals before the halftime horn sounded with the score tied at seven.
Caitlin Kelly gave Monmouth an 8-7 lead less than four minutes into the second half and the Hawks added three more goals in the next seven minutes to go up 11-7. Villanova responded with goals from Rybinski and Carly Miller to cut the gap in half at 11-9. A free position goal by Perry DeWitt made it 12-9 before Miller and Rybinski struck again to make it 12-11 with 10:04 left in regulation play.
However, Vu could not get the equalizer and Shawn Evans and Molly O'Brien scored the next two goals to push the lead back to three. McKenna got the `Cats to within 14-12 when she fired a free position shot into the cage at 4:13 but Monmouth held off Villanova from there before adding a final score with eight seconds left to make the final 15-12.
Monmouth owned a 29-22 advantage in shots and a 22-10 edge in groundballs. The Wildcats did produce 18 draw controls to the Hawks' 10.
Next up for the Wildcats is a Tuesday visit to La Salle (6:30 p.m.) before they return home for the first time since Feb. 22 to host Saint Joseph's at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday at Villanova Stadium.
