Monmouth women in the hunt for NEC title
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Monmouth University's Megan Nutter tries to knock Villanova's Palley Jackson out of bounds during the Hawks' home win on March. 29.

The Monmouth University Hawks are working hard to get over the .500 mark, but don't let their record fool you.

This is a solid women's lacrosse team that fully expects to compete for a Northeast Conference championship.

"We started off playing a very difficult out-of-conference schedule against some nationally ranked teams (like Pennsylvania, Richmond, Duquesne and Rutgers), and we did a nice job of competing against them," said first-year head coach Kelly McCardell. "Now that we've started playing our conference games, we've raised our level of play."

On March 26, the Hawks yielded three goals in the final 2:07 of play, including the decisive goal with 0:00.4 showing on the clock to drop a heartbreaking 17-16 decision to LaSalle University, and fall to 2-6 on the season.

Since that time, the Monmouth women have stepped up their play, winning three games in a row, including an impressive 17-9 win over Robert Morris on Sunday.

"We've done a really nice job of balancing out our play over the last several games," said McCardell, who had served as an assistant coach the past two years, working primarily with the defense and midfield. "Our defense is completely new, and we start a freshman goaltender (freshman Monica Johnson of Radnor, Pa.), so we've had to iron out some kinks in the early going."

Last Thursday, Monmouth University posted a 13-5 win over Villanova University, led by senior Jeanette Stott (Upper Darby, Pa.) who posted three goals and three assists. Playing without the team's second leading scorer, Carolyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va.), Stott led a group of seven players who all tallied goals. In addition to Stott's hat trick, Ashley Waldman, a Shore Regional grad, Kristin Ray (Pearl River, N.Y.), Katie Degen (Glen Head, N.Y.) and Erica Evangelisti (Voorhees) all added multiple goals with two apiece. Ray also had one assist. Megan Nutter (Moorestown) chipped in with one goal and one assist, and Amy Hanson (Lexington Park, Md.) added one goal.

Johnson made 11 saves to pick up the victory for the Hawks. The Hawks took advantage of free position opportunities as the Blue and White were 5-of-7 for the game and 4-of-4 in the half.

Kathleen Kelly led Villanova with two goals and one assist, while Alex Garvey added two goals, and another Shore Regional alum, Christina Bahrs, chipped in with one. Jamie Schneider and Amanda Carlson each registered assists. Jessica Brozena, yet another former All-Shore performer at Shore Regional, made 13 stops in goal for the Wildcats.

In the win, Evangelisti became the 12th Monmouth player ever to score 100 or more points in a career, and she is now tied for 11th place on MU's career scoring list with 100 points. Degen moved into a tie with Steph LaGrossa for seventh place on MU's career scoring list with 114 points.

Monmouth followed that win with a 21-2 rout of St. Francis (Pa.) University on Friday afternoon. Stott again led the way for the Hawks as she scored four goals and added four assists. The 21 goals were the second-most ever scored by the Hawks, two short of the school mark of 23 set against Central Connecticut State on April 12, 2000. The 19-point margin of victory was one shy of the mark of 20 the Blue and White set against the Red Flash in 2002.

Stott then moved into fourth place on Monmouth's all-time career scoring list as she scored three goals and dished out four assists in the Hawks' win over Robert Morris on Sunday. Degen chipped in four goals and two assists in the victory. The win was the third straight for the Blue and White as they improved to 3-0 in conference play.

With her seven points on the afternoon, Stott moved her career total to 195. She needs five more to become just the fourth player in school history to rack up 200 or more points in a career, joining Heather Bryan (251), Kristy Olivo (229) and Rachel Tringali (217). Stott also moved into second place on MU's all-time assist list, as she has accumulated 77 assists during her stellar four-year career. With her three goals in Sunday's contest, Stott needs only two goals to pass Stacy Sydlo for third place on MU's all-time list.

Monmouth returns to action tomorrow as the Hawks travel to Quinnipiac University for a 3 p.m. contest that features the two teams currently tied for first place in the NEC.

"They're coming off a couple of tough wins over Mount St. Mary's and Wagner last weekend, so they're also playing well," McCardell said.

This year's NEC race promises to be an interesting one, with Monmouth one of four conference teams making the transition to a new head coach. Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut and Mount St. Mary's are also under new coaching regimes.

"There's been a lot of turnaround in the conference, and as a result, each team is getting stronger," said McCardell, who earned second team All-Big East in 2003 and as a junior led Notre Dame to a 13-5 record and a No. 7 ranking in the end-of-season polls as the Irish advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Now she's looking to take the Monmouth program to the next level.

"It's been a great experience so far," she said. "Our team goal is to win the NEC regular season title, so that we can host the NEC tournament (which starts April 26), and win it. This year's winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament."