LEXINGTON, Va. - Trailing 9-0 at the break, a second-half comeback effort by the VMI lacrosse team fell short as visiting Monmouth left Drill Field 2 with a 17-5 win Tuesday afternoon in Lexington.

Monmouth's Chris Daly and Dylan Schulte combined for four of the Hawks' nine goals in the opening half as Monmouth (4-2) outshot the Keydets (1-7) by a 21-4 margin in the first 30 minutes of play. VMI also struggled will ball possession in the first two quarters as the Keydets committed nine turnovers.

The Keydets won the faceoff battle by winning 15 of 25 attempts, but struggled defensively as Monmouth went a perfect 19 for 19 on clearing attempts. Both teams finished with 30 groundballs apiece during the course of the game.

VMI's leading scorer for the season, sophomore Wesley Sanders, got things going for the Keydets by opening the third period with VMI's first score and the 15th of the season for Sanders. He would add another goal midway through the same quarter to trim the Monmouth lead to 11-2 with one quarter remaining.

Eric Shaver scored his third goal of the year early in the fourth quarter and was followed one minute later by teammate Chris Spada, who put in his first goal of the year at the 13:11 mark. After a Hawk score moments later, VMI's Dale Mattice scored the final tally of the game at the 6:42 mark for his fourth goal of the year off Cody Sheetz's first assists of the season.

VMI goalie Joe Riccadonna put in a full 60 minutes of action and registered 11 saves on the afternoon. Monmouth's Nick Hreshko picked up the win with three saves in just under 40 minutes of play.

Sanders led VMI with seven shot attempts while Spada finished with five. Freshman Tyler Brock earned his first career assist when Sanders scored his first goal of the game early in the third.

The Keydets resume Southern Conference play this Saturday with an afternoon matchup at Mercer in Macon, Georgia. The first faceoff is slated for a 1 p.m. start.