Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

Boxscore

NEWARK, Del. - Casey Howard recorded her second hat trick of the season to help the No. 17 University of Delaware field hockey team bounce back from its first defeat in over a month with a 3-1 victory over Monmouth during a non-conference showdown at Rullo Stadium on Friday evening.

Howard (at right) opened the scoring with two goals in the first half before adding an insurance goal in the second on the way to the victory. Delaware (10-3) also benefited from two assists by Rae Everson and a defensive save by Michelle Drummonds.

The Hens struck early, wasting no time as Amanda McCardell forced a penalty corner in the first 30 seconds and made it count. Everson sent in the corner to stopper Missy Woodie, allowing Howard to uncork a shot that gave the Hens their earliest lead of the year.

With the score, Howard continued to serve as the sparkplug for the Hens. She has now opened the scoring for the squad in seven contests this season. Nine of Howard’s goals have either tied the game or given Delaware the lead. Of those, six proved to be game-winners.

Howard wasted no time doubling the lead as she corralled a loose ball and put it home less than 10 minutes into the frame. The goal gave Howard her fourth multi-goal game of the year.

Delaware kept up its relentless pressure in the first half as the squad had numerous opportunities to pad its lead. Carley Hecht’s off-angle chance crossed an open net-mouth but just glanced off the foot of Howard.

Howard’s early hat-trick bid was stopped by two brilliant defensive saves in the closing minutes as Nora Bosmans and Tara Brown turned away the standout senior’s shots. Monmouth’s defense came up big again with five minutes remaining in the period as goalkeeper Melissa Katz stopped a McCardell shot from point-blank range.

McCardell also had her chances in the second half to pad the lead, first breaking free of the defense, only to be tripped up right in front of the net. Later, the junior just missed a spinning redirect opportunity.

Howard netted her elusive hat-trick on her ninth shot of the day as she forced home a shot in a scrum in front of the net aided by an Everson assist. Howard’s goal marked the second time this year she netted a troika of goals, along with her school-record five-goal outburst earlier this year.

Monmouth (7-8) got on the board with a late tally off a penalty corner. Tara Brown netted her first goal of the year off a stop from Melissa Murphy coming from a Meredith Violi pass. The Monmouth pressure stayed up throughout the end of the second half, but it was too little too late. Michelle Drummonds snuffed out the only other serious threat, leading to her sixth defensive save of the year.

Delaware held a 20-7 shot advantage leading to an 11- 2 shot-on-goal edge. The Hens also had a 10- 7 lead in penalty corners.

The Blue Hens will return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. as they host national #1 Maryland at Rullo Field.