Madison, NJ (3/6/08) –Senior midfielder Bethany Blaine (Moorestown, NJ / Moorestown) scored five goals while freshman Kayla Henderson (Landing, NJ / Roxbury) added three and an assist in her collegiate debut, however Montclair State dropped its season opener, 19-14 to Drew University on Thursday afternoon.

Junior Marykate DiBenedetto (Cinnaminson, NJ / Cinnaminson) added three goals as Montclair fell in its opening game for the first time since 2003. Stacie Brown scored five goals and grabbed 12 draw controls in the win for Drew which improved to 2-0 with the win.

Montclair State jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from DiBenedetto and Blaine put MSU just 3:36 into the game.  Sophomore Morgan Kenney then got the Rangers on the board with a trickling goal and Cara Jeffries, tied it up from a free position.  Jeffries then put the Rangers ahead off a feed from Meghan Santaniello after nine minutes of play, 3-2.  Brown got on the board right off the draw control, putting Drew up 4-2 just 11 seconds later.  Goals from Montclair’s Katie Barrie (Marlton, NJ / Cherokee) and Blaine tied it at four as the high scoring affair was just 11 minutes old.

Lindsey Perno put Drew up 5-4 with a nice goal, but it sparked a 6-1 run by the Red Hawks with Henderson scoring a hat-trick off the bench in the stretch.  Down 10-6, Brown pulled one back for the Rangers with under a minute to play as MSU held a 10-7 lead at halftime.

Drew’s Samantha Silver tallied her first of the game after 90 seconds into the second half before DiBennedetto countered.  The Rangers then reeled off six straight goals as they won nearly every draw thanks to Brown and got tallies from four different players.  Jeffries started the rally with a free position goal and completed it off a Kenney feed.  Perno scored twice in the run along with one each from Silver and Brown.  It was Brown’s tally at 40:25 that tied it up at 11-11 and Silver put Drew up for good just 35 seconds later.

Down 14-11, Montclair State got a threatening goal from DiBenedetto at 48:15 to pull the Red Hawks within two, but the Rangers quickly responded with a big goal from Allison O’Neal just 15 seconds later.  When O’Neal scored on an free-position goal two minutes later, the Rangers lead grew to 16-12. .

Brown finished off the contest with a pair of goals in the next five minutes to put Drew up 18-12. 

Drew outshot the Red Hawks 32-22 in the contest and the Rangers won 22o f 32 draws in the game.

Freshman goalkeepers Talia Katz (Lower Merion, PA / Lower Merion) and Kelly Jurcyznski (Ewing, NJ / Ewing) combined for 11 saves.

Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, March 8 as the Red Hawks travel to Williamsport, PA to take on Lycoming College in a 3:00 pm matchup.