SBU Sports: Hot scoring rolls No. 6 women’s lacrosse past Monmouth

The No. 6 Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team (9-2, 4-0 CAA) dominated all aspects of the game to secure a 20-5 victory over the Monmouth Hawks (8-6, 2-2 CAA) on April 7 at Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, N.J.

The Seawolves’ offense saw nine different goal scores and three different hat tricks en route to the 20 goals scored. Junior midfielder Jaden Hampel led the way with a career-high tying five goals while junior midfielder Ellie Masera follow behind with four. Senior attacker Kailyn Hart add three goals while Morgan Mitchell and Courtney Maclay tallied a pair each.

Stony Brook wasted no time as its hot scoring began 15 seconds after the first draw courtesy of Hart. Less than one minute later, Hampel found the back of the cage to give the squad an early 2-0 lead. The Seawolves’ defense held Monmouth without a shot attempt for the first 8:30 and without a goal for the first 11 minutes of the contest.

After the Hawks got on the board, Stony Brook answered back with back-to-back goals of their own from Mitchell and Masera to enter the quarter break with a 7-1 lead. The squad came out of the break right where they left off, finishing within the first 20 seconds.

With 11:41 left to play in the second quarter, Monmouth managed to find the back of the cage for the second time thanks to Caroline Brennan. 10 seconds after the Hawks’ goal, senior midfielder Charlotte Verhulst scored one of her own off an assist from Masera to take a 9-2 lead.

The Seawolves added three more goals in the second quarter and enter halftime holding a 12-2 lead over Monmouth. The squad went on to outscore the Hawks 8-3 in the second half to ultimately run away with the 20-5 win and their fourth consecutive win and conference win.

“I’m proud of our team. We took a business like approach and took care of business early on. We checked the boxes of things we needed to accomplish, starting with the draw controls. We played unselfish offense and disciplined defense, all good signs as we head into another important week,” said head coach Joe Spallina.

The team returns home to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium to take on William & Mary on Saturday, April 15 for Senior Day. Face-off is set for 11 a.m. and the game will be broadcast live on LacrosseTV.