RU Field Hockey Edged By Monmouth, 2-1
Sep 18 | Field Hockey
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (September 18, 2011) – Rutgers field hockey’s Carlie Rouh (Berlin, N.J.) tabbed her second goal in as many games but Monmouth’s Morganne Firmstone put away the game-winner to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory in the second-annual “Stick it to Cancer” matchup at Bauer Track and Field Complex in Sunday’s nonconference contest.
“This is a special game for Monmouth and Rutgers,” head coach Liz Tchou said. “For the two teams to be able to play towards a cause that has affected us so closely is great and it’s something that we will continue to do in the future.”
MU (5-3) is in the midst of a four-game win streak, while the Scarlet Knights (1-6, 0-1 BIG EAST) have dropped six-straight.
RU was aggressive in the early going, amassing four penalty corners within a five minute span. However, the Scarlet Knights struggled to utilize its corners and it was Monmouth that converted on its first corner of the contest to take a 1-0 lead. Michelle Pieczynski tipped in her team-leading fifth goal of the season, putting a stick on a shot by teammate Alex Carroll.
RU held advantages in shots, 9-3, and corners, 7-1, in the opening half but were unable to put one into the net.
Rouh chipped in a shot at the 39:50 mark of the second half to even the score at one. The junior found an open Gia Nappi (Fairfield, N.J.), who passed right back to Rouh for the goal into the right side of the net. Rouh is tied with for first on the team in goals with three on the season.
Monmouth took less than seven minutes to regain its lead. Once again the Hawks used a penalty corner for its score. Firmstone took the corner and passed to Carroll, Carroll sent the ball right back to Firmstone for the open shot that beat goalkeeper Sarah Stuby (Roxbury, N.J.).
Rutgers continued on the attack, maintaining possession and generating its share of scoring opportunities, however the Scarlet Knights were unable to put the equalizer away.
Rouh tallied a season-high seven shots, six coming in the opening stanza and six being placed on net. Nappi was close behind with six shots on the afternoon and is the only Scarlet Knight to record a shot in every game this season.
RU ended the afternoon with an 18-7 shot margin and 13-6 advantage in penalty corners.
“We worked on our corner sets this week in practice and it led to a lot of shots for us today,” Tchou continued. “I was proud of them to come out early and really fight hard and get the opportunities that we did, but our girls really wanted to win this game so it’s disappointing.”
MU goalkeeper Teresa Mathews knocked away eight shots, while Stuby accumulated five saves.
The Scarlet Knights return to action on Saturday with a BIG EAST matchup against Villanova. RU defeated the Wildcats for the first time in nine tries with a 4-2 victory last season. Rutgers remains on the road on Sunday at Bucknell looking to remain undefeated in the all-time series against the Bison.
For more information on the Rutgers field hockey, log on to ScarletKnights.com. Also follow the program on Twitter at Twitter.com/RUFieldHockey and Facebook at Facebook.com/Rutgers Field Hockey.
