West Long Branch, NJ - Although it managed seven goals in the second half, the Iona College women's lacrosse team could not overcome an 8-3 first half deficit as it dropped an 18-10 decision to Monmouth to end a three game winning streak. The Maroon & Gold now stands at 3-6 on the season, while the Hawks improved to 7-3.
Jaclyn O'Leary scored the game's first goal when she made a clever one-on-one move to score 1:49 into the match. O'Leary finished with four goals on the day to lead the Gaels. Monmouth netted three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead, capped by a free position goal by Megan Nutter with just over five minutes expired in the opening half.
The two teams traded tallies as Iona trailed by one on a pair of occasions, the latest coming after Kelly Hughes scored on Hawk goaltender Monica Johnson with 7:54 to go in the period to bring the score to 4-3. The hosts scored the next four goals to close out the half with an 8-3 advantage.
The Gaels pulled to within three on two early second half goals, the first an unassisted shot by Rachel O'Leary and the second by Jillian Beck off a feed from Hughes. Monmouth ended the run on a Brittany Scott score and added another to lead 10-5 at the 22:13 mark. O'Leary scored her third and fourth goals of the afternoon, and Beck recorded a second, but the Gaels foundthemselves in a 16-8 hole with just over ten minutes remaining in the contest.
While the Hawks converted on four of five free position chances, Iona managed only one of four. The only free position goal of the day for the Gaels came from the stick of Lisa Baron with 7:30 left to play. Catilin Collins joined in the action for Iona, scoring with slightly over one minute to go but the squad was still eight goals shy by the final horn.
Colleen Magri played 50 minutes in front of the net, making eight saves while allowing 15 goals. She was replaced by Carlee Street for the final ten minutes.
The Gaels will play a second game on the road, traveling to Lafayette on April 2. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.
