WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Towson University women's lacrosse team shut out Monmouth University in the second half and rallied for a 4-3 victory in the Tigers' season opener Saturday afternoon. Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Montalbano scored the game-winning goal for the Tigers (1-0).

The Tigers held an opponent to three goals or less in a game for the first time since 2012 when they held UMBC to three.

"I thought Monmouth played a great game today," said Towson Head Coach Sonia LaMonica. "This game was more of a grind then I would have liked it to be. Ultimately, we were hungry and when our backs were against the wall we made some plays. Taylor Moore following through on the game tying goal, Kaitlyn as a freshman converting that late goal and Kelsea Donnelly made a big save for us late."

Olivia Higson gave Monmouth (3-1) a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. Higson converted a free position goal at 28:55 and followed that up with an unassisted goal at 24:54.
It remained a 2-0 lead until there was 7:59 left in the half. Senior midfielder Paige Duncan took a pass from redshirt senior attacker Andi Raymond and fired home a low shot which put Towson on the board. However Monmouth was not done as the Hawks forced a Towson turnover, cleared the ball and Marial Pierce snuck one past Donnelly for the 3-1 advantage.

Monmouth carried that two-goal advantage into halftime. Each team took nine shots in the first 30 minutes of play while the Tigers won five of the six draw controls. The Hawks were aided by seven first half saves from Katie Donohoe in the cage.

Towson came out battling in the second half and was able to pull to within one with 21:38 left in the game. Sophomore attacker Gabby Cha received a pass from Raymond and was able to put it past Donohoe, which made it a 3-2 game. The Tigers continued to battle as they forced a turnover with 9:46 to play and sophomore midfielder Samantha Brookhart picked up the ground ball. The Tigers converted a successful clear as Cha brought the ball into the offensive zone. She found senior attacker Taylor Moore by the corner of the net and Moore scored the game-tying goal at 9:30.

Less than a minute later, the Tigers were awarded a free position shot and Montalbano buried it in the back of the net with 8:47 to play which gave Towson a 4-3 lead.

The Tiger defense came up big in the final eight minutes, forcing three turnovers and holding off the Hawks for the comeback victory.

Donnelly made six saves to earn the win in goal for the Tigers. Donohoe finished with 11 saves for the Hawks in the loss.

Towson outshot the Hawks 10-6 in the second half and finished the game with a 19-15 advantage. The Tigers won three more draw controls in the second stanza and finished the game with an 8-2 edge in that category.

Raymond and Cha each posted two points to lead the Tigers in the game. Raymond's points came on a pair of assists while Cha had a goal and an assist.

Higson led Monmouth with the two goals.

Towson is back in action when it travels to Georgetown on Saturday, March 7 for a 3 p.m. game.