WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Monmouth defeated Mount St. Mary's 11-7 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) women's lacrosse opener for both teams on Friday.

Esther Rufolo (Woodstock, Md./Chapelgate Christian Academy) paced the Mount (2-5, 0-1 NEC with three goals while Ashley Johnson (Arvada, Colo./Arvada West) added two tallies, and Emily Kirby (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) and Lucy Pompa (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) also found the twine in the loss.

Molly O'Brien led the Hawks (2-5, 1-0 NEC) with three goals and one assist. Shawn Evans, Megan Brennan and Ali Pollock registered two goals apiece in the winning effort.

Monmouth used a three-goal run to erase an early deficit and then used a three-goal spurt in the second half to pull away and win the league opener.

After Pompa got the scoring started with a free-position goal at 3:18 to hand the Mount a 1-0 edge, Perry DeWitt started a string of three unanswered goals with an unassisted tally at 7:41. Evans then scored off an O'Brien assist at 11:40 before Pollock found the twine off a Rachel Feirstein feed at 12:13.

Johnson momentarily halted the Hawks run with an 8-meter marker at 19:16 to trim the margin to 3-2, but Monmouth scored the next two goals to grab a 5-2 lead. Feirstein scored off an Olivia Salata assist at 25:15 and Brennan converted a free-position chance 71 seconds later for a three-goal edge.

Rufolo answered for the Mountaineers unassisted at 29:37 before Evans ended the half by scoring with one tick on the clock to give Monmouth a 6-3 advantage at the break.

Rufolo got the scoring started in the second half when she scored on an 8-meter shot at 36:27, but Pollock answered right back with a free-position goal of her own at 38:13 to maintain a three-goal margin.

The back-and-forth second half continued when Rufolo recorded her third hat trick of the season on her second 8-meter goal of the afternoon at 42:10 to trim the margin to 7-5. O'Brien answered with a free-position tally at 44:15.

After Kirby posted the Mount's s fifth 8-meter goal at 45:22, O'Brien answered with back-to-back tallies at 46:22 and 47:07 to hand the Hawks a 10-6 lead. Brennan then scored unassisted at 49:49 for a five-goal advantage.

Johnson halted the 3-0 run with a free-position tally with 1:38 on the clock to cut the deficit to 11-7, but the Mountaineers could get no closer the rest of the way.

Brigid McTavish (Mount Airy, Md./South Carroll) made 10 saves for Mount St. Mary's while Kirby Mundorf turned away 13 shots for Monmouth.

Pompa, who moved into ninth place on the program's all-time career draw control list with 69, paced the Mount defense with five caused turnovers and five ground balls, and Meghan Conlan (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) grabbed a career-high four draw controls, two ground balls and one caused turnover.

The Mountaineers fall in the league opener for only the third time in program history and for the first time since a 16-7 loss at UMBC in 2003. The Mount was on the road for the NEC opener for the first time since the loss to the Retrievers and for the fourth time in team history.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Mar. 26 when the Mount hosts Saint Francis (Pa.) in the home opener and the programs first-ever night game at the Waldron Family Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.