NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY - The Monmouth University women's soccer team claimed its third straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Regular Season Championship on Saturday afternoon with its 2-0 victory at Niagara as junior Erica Murphy (Millstone Township, NJ/Pennington Prep) scored a pair of goals for the Hawks, who are now 13-2-2 overall and finished the regular season with a 9-1 mark in league play.

 

"This was a great ending to our regular season," stated head coach Krissy Turner, who led the program to its seventh overall conference regular season title. "We finished our chances, our reserves encouraged the team to get it done and I am very proud of this team. We have gotten every team's best game all season long and in the end we persevered. We are excited to be hosting the conference championships on Hesse Field on The Great Lawn."

 

Monmouth took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute when Murphy finished a cross from senior Cara Poole (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) who registered her second career assist on the play.

 

The Hawks doubled their advantage to 2-0 in the 65th minute on Murphy's second of the day and league-high 15th of the year, as junior Alexis McTamney (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) gained the endline and fed Murphy in front of the cage. McTamney, who is tied with junior Julie Spracklin (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional) and sophomore Rachelle Ross (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) for the team-lead with six assists each, ranks second on the team with 22 points.

 

Murphy's 15 goals is the highest individual total for a Hawk since Kristen McDermott netted 22 goals for Monmouth in 1998.

 

Junior Sydney Lavan (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) made one save for the Hawks for her eighth shutout, while Claire Feiertag made three stops for Niagara (8-6-2, 6-3 MAAC).

 

Monmouth earned the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming 2015 MAAC Women's Soccer Championships and will host the league's postseason for a second-straight year. The championship semifinals (Nov. 6) and finals (Nov. 8) will be held on Hesse Field on The Great Lawn, where the Hawks are 8-0-1 this year.

 

@MUWSoccer -- #FlyHawks