Jamaica, NY -- Erin Zambelli (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem) scored her first hat trick of her St. John's career as the host Red Storm downed Monmouth University 5-1 at DaSilva Memorial Field this afternoon.

The junior forward was unstoppable scoring once in the first half and twice in the last 45 minutes to record her seventh goal of the year and 15th point of the season. Her six points versus the Hawks (7-4-1) was also a career high.

Senior's Marissa Stork (Flushing, NY/St. Francis Prep) and Diane Abeles (Glendale, CA/La Canada) each scored a goal apiece to complete the scoring and junior goalkeeper Tina Fogg (Warwick, RI/Warwick Veterans Memorial) got the win, her fifth of the season. Fogg's shutout bid was lost at 38:02 of the first half on a goal by Monmouth's Colleen Gill on a rebound off the cross bar.

Other SJU players to have solid performances were junior Heather Cook (Seattle, WA/Seattle Lutheran) who chipped in with two assists, freshman Dominica Reina (Frankfort, NY/Notre Dame) who added an assist and Lisa Kaczmarski (Lancaster, NY/Clarence) who had four shots on goal in the win.

Stork opened the scoring on a feed from Reina to make it 1-0 at 19:43 of the first half. SJU added to the lead at 36:17 on a breakaway goal by Zambelli on a perfect feed from Cook for a 2-0 advantage.

Monmouth's Gill cut the deficit to 2-1 moments later (38:02) to slice the lead in half at intermission. Hawk's goalkeeper Abby Shiffler was peppered all afternoon stopping eight of the 13 shots on goal taken by an offense minded Red Storm squad. St. John's outshot the Hawks 23-3 on the afternoon and had a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks in the game.

The Red Storm (5-8, 3-2 BIG EAST) prepare for a key game with Virginia Tech this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in Blacksburg, VA. The BIG EAST battle has serious playoff implications. Should the Red Storm win or tie they will clinch an automatic playoff berth in the conference tournament for the first since 1994. A loss and they would need some help within the conference but still could qualify because of the playoff tie-breaker format.