Nihill, Defense Push Women's Lacrosse Past Monmouth, 11-5

Wednesday, March 2

Vidas Field

4:00 p.m.

Drexel University

4-1

Monmouth

2-3

Monmouth

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Nihill, Defense Push Women's Lacrosse Past Monmouth, 11-5

3/2/2016 6:28:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Devin Nihill scored five goals including four in a row as the Drexel women's lacrosse team won its fourth game of the season, 11-5 over Monmouth on Wednesday afternoon at Vidas Field. The Dragons (4-1) held Monmouth (2-3) off the scoreboard for over 26 minutes as Drexel overcame a brief one-goal deficit and seized control of the game in the second half.

Drexel outscored the Hawks 6-1 after intermission, with Nihill netting four of the Dragons' six goals. Nadia Pelham-Lacey added a pair of goals and three assists, her 10th consecutive game with multiple points scored. Emily Duffey added a goal and three assists, while Lacey Aghazarian, Caroline Thiele and Alex Beilman also contributed goals for the Dragons.

While the Dragons' offense performed well, it was the defense that was particularly impactful in the second half. Carlee Ries moved to 4-1 in goal for the season, pulling in seven saves. Drexel caused 17 turnovers in total, with Eva Winiarski accounting for five of those. She added a career-high six draw controls and three ground balls, both tops on the team on Wednesday. Alyssa Kalitz caused four turnovers, adding two draws and a pair of ground balls. Thiele also had three caused turnovers and two ground balls, while Aghazarian and Milan White each recorded a pair of caused turnovers.

Drexel got off to a quick start, scoring the game's first two goals. Emily Duffey scored her 10th goal of the season just 2:27 into the action, and Lacey Aghazarian followed three minutes later with her sixth. After the Hawks responded with the first of two Caroline Corbliss goals on the afternoon, the Dragons recaptured their two-goal lead when Nadia Pelham-Lacey ripped in an unassisted tally with 12:39 remaining in the first half.

Trailing 3-1, the Hawks mounted a comeback after Pelham-Lacey's first goal. Over a span of 4:04, Monmouth scored three straight to take a 4-3 lead. The last two of those, scored by Corbliss and Kate Ryan, came just 22 seconds apart as the Hawks took what would be their only lead of the afternoon.

Monmouth held that lead for just under four minutes, until Alex Beilman took a pass from Pelham-Lacey to knot things up with 4:04 remaining in the first half. It was Beilman's fourth goal and Pelham-Lacey's ninth assist of the season. By the end of the day, she would have 10 assists on the season, already more than any Dragon had during the 2015 campaign.

Beilman's goal opened the floodgates for the Dragons, who would score six straight to grab all the momentum. Devin Nihill was responsible for most of that, scoring four straight beginning with her tally at the 2:48 mark of the first half on a free position shot. Nihill, who converted on two of three free position attempts in the game, wrested the team lead in goals from Pelham-Lacey with her five scores over the game's final 32:48, leaving her with 13 on the year.

After halftime, Nihill's personal run continued as she found the back of the net for the first three goals of the second half. Two came off feeds from Duffey and the third, Nihill's fourth goal of the afternoon, was another free position shot with 25:02 remaining. That made the score 8-4 in favor of the Dragons, as Nihill had singlehandedly turned a tie game into a Drexel romp.

Caroline Thiele capped the Drexel 6-0 run with her second goal of the year, off a dish from Pelham-Lacey with 19:54 remaining. Ryan's second goal of the day put Monmouth on the scoreboard in the second half with just 11:30 remaining in the contest, but Pelham-Lacey answered less than two minutes later to erase any hope of a Monmouth comeback. Nihill's fifth goal, scored off a Duffey assist, put the capper on an explosive second half for her and the Dragons to provide the final margin with 7:22 to play.

Nihill's five-goal game was the first such output for the Dragons since Kelly Palace scored five in a season-opening victory over George Washington on Feb. 16, 2014. Drexel is now off to its best start since the 2013 season, when the Dragons won their first five.

Drexel will hit the road for its next game, but won't have to travel far as the Dragons visit Villanova on Saturday. That game is set to begin at 4:00 p.m.