MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The FDU-Florham women's lacrosse team fell behind early in the first half and was ultimately defeated 14-8 by the Montclair St. Red Hawks Wednesday afternoon in Montclair, N.J.
The Devils (4-3) offense was limited in the first half as Montclair jumped out to early 6-0 lead. The Red Hawks (3-4) received a lot of contributions on the offensive end with eight different players finding the back of the net for a score. Three minutes into the game, Tierney Conlon forced a Devils' turnover and dished the ball to Francesca Verrone, who scored the first Red Hawks goal of the afternoon. Verrone tallied a game-high four goals in the contest.
Conlon forced another turnover several minutes later and she scooped up the ball and sent it over to Aviana Paraggio, who sent the ball into the back of the net. Nearly half way through the first half, Conlon earned a free position shot and capitalized with a goal to give Montclair an early 3-0 advantage. The Devils could not contain Conlon, who was involved in nine of the Red Hawks 14 goals as she finished the game with two scores and seven assists.
Following a missed Red Hawks shot, Paraggio picked up the ball and scored her second goal. The Red Hawks followed up the Paraggio score with goals from Vanessa Rey and Conlon to jump out to a 6-0 lead with 14 minutes to play in the half.
The Devils got on the board with a Brienna Reasoner (Flemington, N.J.) goal and after one more Red Hawks score, senior Courtney Rendinaro (Hillsborough, N.J.) found the back of the net for FDU-Florham with just seconds left on the clock before the half came to a close.
Looking to build on the momentum, sophomore Joelle Manganella (Kenvil. N.J.) and senior Rendinaro each scored a goal to make it a 7-4 game with 19 minutes left to play. The Red Hawks countered with a goal from Verrone, her second of the game. Following another Red Hawks goal, the Devils went on to score three straight to cut the deficit to just one.
However, Montclair responded with five unanswered goals to close out the game and seal the 14-8 victory over the Devils. Senior goalie Grace Warburton (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) saw a lot of action with the Red Hawks taking 30 total shots. The Devils tallied just 19 shots in the game.
FDU-Florham will return to Madison to host the Kean University Cougars at Robert T. Shields Field on Saturday, March 28, at 1 p.m.
