BOX SCORE

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (9/5/10) – The Colgate field hockey team dropped its third game of the season after falling to Monmouth, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon.

Colgate (1-3) saw senior Laura Denenga (Harare, Zimbabwe) net her third goal of the season with sophomores Adrianna Libutti (South Windsor, Conn.) and Kendall Zaharris (Baltimore, Md.) adding assists. Senior captain Kirsten Lalli (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) got her fourth straight start in net and made seven saves in the defeat.

Monmouth (2-1) got two goals from Michelle Pieczynski and two helpers by Alex Carroll. Katelyn Buckley, Morganne Firmstone and Meredith Violi also posted goals for the home team. Four of the five goals scored came in the second half. Melissa Katz earned the win in net, pushing aside one shot.

Firmstone started the scoring 4:14 into the game as the ball was played into the left side of the circle by Carroll and Firmstone was there at the near post to make it 1-0. The Raiders answered back under two minutes later on Denenga's third of the year. The goal happened on a penalty corner with Denenga firing a shot that deflected off a defender and into the back of the net.

The quick scoring continued, this time on the Monmouth side. After Denenga scored at the 29:08 mark, Buckley scored her first of the season with 27:16 remaining in the half. She was able to set up a 1-on-1 situation and after Lalli made the initial stop, Buckley followed her shot and gave the Hawks the lead back at 2-1 at the half.

Monmouth led in shots at halftime with an 8-4 advantage and had four penalty corners to three for the Raiders.

The second half belonged to the Hawks and it started 6:06 into the frame with Violi netting her first of the year. She was able to carry the ball to the end line and she shot through traffic, finding the net to push the lead up to 3-1. Pieczynski increased the lead to 4-1 with the first of her two on the day. She used her stick on a deflection from a Carroll shot at the top of the circle and the ball snuck past Lalli.

Pieczynski struck again with 11:26 remaining to close the scoring at 5-1. The ball was played into the circle from the end line and it found the stuck of Pieczynski and she didn't miss, scoring her second goal of the season and the game.

The Hawks finished the day with 16 shots, while the Raiders collected six. Monmouth had a 9-4 advantage in penalty corners.

Colgate will be back on the road next weekend as the Raiders travel to Connecticut to take on Yale and Quinnipiac, beginning with the Bulldogs at noon on Saturday.