In a game that was dominated by outstanding offense by both teams, the Montclair State women’s lacrosse team fell short in Glassboro on April 16 as they were defeated by the Rowan University Profs 13-10 in a rematch of the 2015 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) semi-finals.
Rowan struck first on their home field when senior defender Jess Casterline scored the first goal of the afternoon to give the Profs a quick 1-0 lead. The Red Hawks responded minutes later as junior attacker Aviana Paraggio scored to tie the match at 1.
The Profs offense would immediately take over the first half as they would score 5 unanswered goals, courtesy of 2 goals by junior attacker Rachel Hofbauer, a goal by junior midfielder Ali Herbert, and back-to-back goals by freshman attacker Jess Havers. The Profs broke the game open with a 6-1 lead.
Following a ground ball pickup by senior defender Meredith King, Paraggio scored her second goal of the afternoon and the deficit was cut to four with 12:54 left in the half. The Profs responded in seconds with two unanswered goals by Havers and freshman attacker Maddie Bray, and the Profs led 8-2 with 9:09 left in the first half.
Rowan’s Hofbauer scored two more times in the first half, which gave her 4 goals in the game. The Red Hawks added three more goals, courtesy of Paraggio, her third of the game, senior midfielder Kara Clampton, and freshman attacker Jessica Andruela. Rowan went into halftime with a commanding 10-5 lead.
Despite being down by 5 goals, the Red Hawks were only being outshot 14-13 and they were outshot on net 12-11. Rowan goalkeeper Erin Horner was able to keep the Red Hawks offense in check with 6 saves in the first half.
Andruela gave the Red Hawks some momentum in the second half as she scored her second goal of the game and the first of the half to cut the deficit to 10-6.
The momentum would not last long. Following a Red Hawks foul, Hofbauer scored her fifth goal of the game and the Profs retook a five goal lead.
The Red Hawks offense responded with 3 unanswered goals, highlighted by 2 goals from senior captain and midfielder Kasey Maguire and 1 goal from sophomore midfielder Chelsea Orban. The Red Hawks cut the deficit down to 11-9.
With Rowan on the ropes, Bray added with her second goal of the game for the Profs to give Rowan a 12-9 lead with 5:09 left to go.
With 3:26 left in the contest, following another ground ball pickup by King, senior attacker Serena Hitchins scored her first goal of the game and the Red Hawks were down by two with three minutes remaining.
The Red Hawks comeback would fall short. With 2:02 left to go, Rowan junior attacker Danielle Hubbs punched in her first goal of the day to put the game to rest. The Red Hawks were not able to come out with the win as they fell to the Profs 13-10 in Glassboro.
Rowan outshot Montclair State 27-24 and outshot the Red Hawks on net as well 21-18. Montclair State was also the victim of 21 turnovers on the afternoon.
The Red Hawks now have a record of 7-5 on the season and 0-2 in the conference. The Red Hawks will look to get back to there winning ways in Mahwah on April 19 when they battle NJAC rival Ramapo College at 4 p.m.
