WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Monmouth University's (4-3) women's lacrosse team nearly erased a seven-goal deficit on Wednesday afternoon before eventually falling to Wagner College (5-2) at Kessler Stadium. Wagner had built a 8-3 lead at the start of the second half, pushing their lead to 10-3 with a pair of goals in the first seven minutes. Monmouth's Nicole Ceraso (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) scored a pair of goals back to back to start the scoring before Jenny Staines (Silver Spring, MD/Good Counsel) added her second goal of the game with 17:18 left. Allison Turturro (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) and Rachel Mills (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic/Towson) tallied goals within a minute of each other and the Hawks found themselves down 10-8 with 11:15 to play. Monmouth had a chance after a clutch Riley Brager (Reisterstown, MD/Roland Park Country) save with just over two minutes left but Wagner was able to turn the Hawks over. Mills added a goal with one second left but MU ultimately fell a goal short of the comeback. Monmouth dug itself into a hole in the first half with a myriad of turnovers, 11 of them in the first 30 minutes. That allowed Wagner to take 25 first half shots compared to just 11 for the Hawks. Wagner shot out to a four-goal lead in the first 12 minutes before Caroline Bleck (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) scored her first of two goals. Wagner's Stephanie Falcone answered to push the lead to 5-1 and Megan Drum added another 40 seconds later and the Hawks were down by four. The Hawks answered with a pair of goals in 39 seconds but the visitors added two more to end the period up five. NOTES & QUOTES "Today was a game of two halves. Unfortunately, we were not able to make up enough of a comeback in the second half for the win but I am proud of the fight we chose to put up to get ourselves back into it. We need to put all aspects of our game together and play a complete game of Hawk Lacrosse. I know we have it in us to do so, but now we have to prove it." Monmouth Head Coach Jordan Trautman It is the first time in program history that Monmouth has lost to Wagner, with the series standing at 19-1. Wagner, defending NEC Champions, was selected to finish second in the Northeast Conference. Brager's 17 saves was one short of her career-high, set against Niagara last season Monmouth had just one assist on their nine goals – it was the first time all season Ceraso did not record an assist. Staines led the Hawks with three points Monmouth was 3-for-5 on free position shots while Wagner was 1-of-9 Sophomore Emily Holtz had three caused turnovers and three ground balls in the contest NUMBERS CRUNCH Monmouth was outshot 43-27 in the contest The Hawks were whistled for 32 fouls, compared to 14 for Wagner. MU also had three cards against them Monmouth committed 17 turnovers compared to 13 for Wagner, however each only had six in the second half Wagner collected 23 ground balls compared to 18 for Monmouth, including 15 in the first half Drum led all scorers with three goals. Falcone finished with two and an assist for the Seahawks Wagner goalie Kelsey Fee had seven saves in net, including five in the second half UP NEXT Monmouth hits the road to face George Washington on Saturday at 1 PM in the final road non-conference game of the season