The Monmouth women had plenty to celebrate about Thursday night. (Karlee Sell Photo courtesy of Monmouth SID)
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The top-seeded Monmouth University women took their next step in a quest for a fourth consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship with a 3-0 victory over sixth-seeded Niagara University in the semifinals at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn Wednesday night.
The Hawks (13-2-2) will host the MAAC Championship match at Hesse Field on The Great Lawn Sunday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Monmouth is unbeaten in its last 14 games (13-0-1), including 12 consecutive wins. That is the longest winning under head coach Krissy Turner and the longest streak since the program won 17 straight games spanning the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
“In the first half it took us time to settle into the game,” Turner said. “The second half I thought we played very well and created some terrific chances. To score off of three restarts is a great way to advance to the championship game.”
Monmouth closed a back-and-forth first half with the upper hand after Jesi Rossman pounced on a loose ball inside Niagara’s six-yard box in the 43rd minute. The goal came off a Madie Gibson corner kick that Maddison Perna deflected to Rossman for the goal.
Less than a minute into the second half, Monmouth capitalized on a hand ball inside the penalty area. Sarina Jones slotted home the ensuing penalty kick for a two-goal margin. Jess Johnson’s free kick was headed in by Lauren Karabin (Wall, NJ / Wall / Brookdale) in the 80th minute to put the game out of reach.
Goalkeeper Amanda Knaub finished with four saves, including deflecting a Niagara chance in the 23rd minute off the crossbar to preserve the shutout.
