PHILADELPHIA, PA. – Monmouth received goals from sophomore Tyler Keen (Downington, Pa./Downingtown West) and freshman Bryce Wasserman (Southlake, Texas/Grapevine Faith) but fell at Saint Joseph’s University 9-2 in collegiate men’s lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at Sweeney Field.
Monmouth, which had its two-game win streak snapped by the defending Northeast Conference regular season champions, got a career-high 15 saves from senior goalkeeper Garrett Conaway (Marriottsville, Md./Liberty).
“Today was an uphill battle as we didn't have our best stuff,” stated head coach Brian Fisher. “Saint Joseph's played really well and took advantage of our mistakes and mental breakdowns that proved costly. We know we are capable of playing much better and while we were not at our best today, we still were a couple of plays away from making the game interesting down the stretch.”
Saint Joseph’s took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, as the Hawks outshot Monmouth 13-5 in the stanza. The Blue & White trimmed the deficit in half by the intermission, as Keen notched his team-leading seventh goal of the season off an assist from classmate Zack Schleicher (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) 3:05 into the second, and Wasserman netted his sixth of the year with 3:35 left in the half.
SJU outscored Monmouth 3-0 in the third frame and 2-0 in the final period to claim the 9-2 victory, improving its record to 3-3 on the season.
Saint Joseph’s outshot Monmouth 32-23 as Conaway made double-digit saves for the third time in four games for the Hawks.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, March 14 when the Hawks open MAAC play with a league contest at Marist at 1:00 p.m., at Tenney Stadium.
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