Hawks post fifth straight shutout while Murphy adds team-leading eighth goal

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Monmouth University women's soccer team captured its second straight outright Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship behind its 1-0 victory at Rider on Wednesday night. Monmouth, which has now won eight straight matches and has posted five straight shutouts, improves to 14-4 overall and closes out its league slate with a 9-1 mark.

Monmouth got the decisive goal in the 19th minute when sophomore forward Erica Murphy (Millstone Township, N.J./Pennington Prep) netted her team-leading eighth tally of the season, which was her fifth career game-winner.

"It was a great night for our team to be able to secure our second regular season MAAC title," noted head coach Krissy Turner, whose Hawks have registered a 17-1-2 mark in two seasons of MAAC league competition. "We played well tonight and created some excellent chances. We will take a few days off and begin to prepare for the Conference Championships."

The Hawks, who outshot Rider (10-5-2, 5-3-2 MAAC) 26-4 overall in the match, forced Broncs' starter Bethany-May Howard to make 11 saves, and reserve keeper Briyanna Femia to make two more stops. Graduate Nicole D'Agostino (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Hinsdale Central/Pitt) made one save for Monmouth, which recorded its 11th shutout on the year.

Monmouth returns to action on Friday, November 7 when the Hawks host MAAC Tournament Championships. The Hawks will face the lowest remaining seed following the First Round games at 7:00 p.m. on Hesse Field on The Great Lawn.

@MUWSoccer -- #FlyHawks

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