WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Columbia lacrosse team secured its first victory of the season Saturday afternoon, defeating the Monmouth Hawks 11-8, in a tightly contested road contest.
"We are heading home very excited about getting the win over Monmouth," Head Coach
Anne Murray said. "It's the first time our seniors have beaten them in their 4 years and the team couldn't be happier!"
With the victory, Columbia secures its first win of the year and improves to 1-1 on the young season. Meanwhile, Monmouth drops to 0-4.
Columbia started strong, as sophomore midfielder
Natalia Raiszadeh won the opening draw and took it down the field, scoring just 12 seconds into the game to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Cecilia Messner and
Dani Falcone found the back of the net for the Lions midway through the first quarter to extend the lead to 3-0, but Monmouth answered with four straight goals to take a 4-3 advantage.
Ellie Taylor scored her second goal of the season late in the first quarter to tie the game at 4-4 at the end of the period.
"It was such a competitive first quarter that pushed us to focus and tighten up for the remaining three," Murray said. "The strong performance of the defensive unit, lead by a great day from
Ava Kimche in net, gave us the momentum boost we needed to finish the game out. Our attacking unit found a balanced system with eight different scorers and 5 different assisters. We followed the lead of
Dani Falcone who had such a strong day on offense."
Both teams turned up the defensive intensity in the second quarter, with Monmouth scoring the first goal of the period almost 10 minutes in, to take a 5-4 lead. Columbia, however, responded with two goals in the final 91 seconds of the half, scored by
Cordelia Flemming and Messner to take a 6-5 lead into the break.
The third quarter is where the Lions took control of the game. After giving up the first goal of the quarter to Monmouth to tie the game up at 6-6, Columbia scored four unanswered goals to end the period and took a 10-6 lead into the final frame.
Junior midfielder
Serena Hong scored to open up the fourth quarter and give the Lions an 11-6 lead. Monmouth answered with two goals midway through the fourth to trim the deficit to 11-8, but the Lions held them scoreless for the final 5:54 to come away with their first win of the season.
After seven different Lions scored on opening day against the Oregon Ducks, eight different Lions scored against the Hawks, with
Dani Falcone leading the Lions' offense once more with her first hat trick of the season and 2 assists, totaling 5 points. The other goal scorers for the Lions were Raiszadeh, Messner, Taylor, Flemming,
Maddie Brogan,
Michelle Zhai and Hong.
On the defensive end, it was a team effort for the Lions, with Taylor, Raiszadeh and
Julie Griswold leading the way with two ground balls each, as well as each forcing a caused turnover. Kimche was terrific in goal once again, recording 12 saves while only allowing eight goals.
After being dominated in the draw circle by Oregon, the Lions bounced back to win the draw control battle against Monmouth 12-11.
Dylan Silar did an excellent job, giving the Lions the opportunities they needed to put the game away. The Hawks led 16-11 in ground balls, while also outshooting Columbia 31-25. The Lions were a near perfect 20-21 on clears, while Monmouth was 19-22.
Next up, the Lions travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in the last game of a three-game road trip to open up the 2025 season. Opening draw is set for Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.
"We are ready to reset and refocus for our battle against Lehigh on Tuesday!" Murray closed.
For the latest on Columbia lacrosse, follow @CULionsLax on Twitter and Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
