PITMAN—Second-seeded TCNJ produced a dominating defensive effort, holding fourth-seeded Richard Stockton to just two shots to capture the 2011 NJAC Women’s Soccer Championship. TCNJ finished its two-match tournament run without surrendering a goal, posting a pair of identical 1-0 victories to claim its third consecutive NJAC crown and its 15th NJAC championship since 1994. Next up for the Lions, an appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament via the NJAC’s automatic qualification.
CHAMPIONSHIP
EWING--The College of New Jersey won its third straight New Jersey Athletic Conference title as the Lions scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Richard Stockton on November 4 at Lions’ Stadium.
By winning their 15th conference title in the 18 years, TCNJ earned the NJAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. This marks the 21st straight season the Lions have qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
It was also a milestone achievement for head coach Joe Russo as he became only the fourth coach in Division III history to reach 400 victories. In his 22 years on the Lion sideline, Russo has an impressive record of 400-48-28, which includes three national championships.
The win puts TCNJ at 12-3-2 for the season and they now await the announcement of the NCAA field, which will be revealed on November 7.
Richard Stockton capped its successful season at 13-6-4 as they appeared in the conference title game for the fourth time in the last five years.
Senior Brittany McGinley accounted the for game’s only goal in the 21st minute as she crashed the net and banged in a rebound off of a direct kick from senior Nikki Migliori. That goal was McGinley’s 12th of the season.
The Ospreys had a great chance to get that equalizer with just over nine minutes left in the game as Jess McQuillen put a shot on the Lion net that appeared headed inside the near post, but TCNJ defender Jordan Downs stepped in to make the team save.
Lion keeper Cristina Gacos picked up her 12th win of the season and her ninth shutout.
Sophomore Sarah Hinckle had a big game for the Ospreys in goal, finishing with 11 saves.
SEMIFINALS
RICHARD STOCKTON 4, ROWAN 3
GLASSBORO--The Richard Stockton College women’s soccer team defeated Rowan University, 4-3 in the semifinals of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship Tournament on November 1.
The Ospreys (13-5-4), seeded fourth, will travel to the second seed The College of New Jersey for the conference championship on November 4 at 7 p.m. The conference champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Rowan finishes the regular season with a 13-4 record. The Profs must wait until Monday, November 7 to see if they receive an at-large bid to the national tournament.
Midfielder Jess McQuillen led Richard Stockton with three goals and one assist. Midfielder Rachel Carlson chipped in with one goal. For Rowan, midfielders Nina Fragoso and Evynn Wright and forward Erika Suhl all scored one goal. Forward Veronica Rhea, midfielder Christie Fink and Suhl each registered one assist.
The Profs totaled 13 shots while the Ospreys collected nine. Goalkeeper Sarah Hinkle stopped six shots for Richard Stockton. Goalkeeper Lyndsie Bernardini made one save for Rowan.
After the first half, Richard Stockton trailed 2-1. The Ospreys started the second period with three straight goals for a 4-2 advantage. McQuillen blasted a shot at 54:35 that hit the left post and went into the goal. She later crossed the ball to Carlson who had a breakaway. Carlson hit the right side (64:59). McQuillen knocked in a loose ball, 2:46 later for her third goal. Wright scored the Profs’ final goal at 66:49. She had a shot that Hinkle stopped with her foot and the ball went up in the air and came back down into the Ospreys’ net.
Fragoso put Rowan on the scoreboard first at 8:27. She hit the upper left corner of the goal on a pass from Suhl. Suhl’s goal came at 14:07. Her shot went into the right side after feeds up the middle of the field from Rhea and Fink. With 23 seconds left in the half, McQuillen had a direct kick that sailed into the top right corner of the Profs’ net.
TCNJ 1, MONTCLAIR STATE 0
EWING--The College of New Jersey women's soccer team advanced to the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship game, defeating Montclair State University 1-0 on November 1.
Senior Nikki Migliori scored the lone goal of the contest less than a minute into the second half to send the Lions (11-3-2) to the tournament final. TCNJ will host Richard Stockton College in the championship game on November 4 at 7:00 p.m. in Lions' Stadium. The Ospreys upset top-seeded Rowan University 4-3 in Glassboro, NJ. The Lions will vie for their third consecutive NJAC title.
After a scoreless first half, Migliori took a direct kick from 35 yards out. She hit a hard shot to the right corner that was partially screened by senior forward Brittany McGinley just before it rippled the back of the net. It was Migliori's second goal of the season.
The first 35 minutes of play offered limited scoring chances as both defenses were able to stave off any serious offensive threats. The Lions heated up in the final ten minutes as McGinley had a pair of quality attempts on net. She ripped a shot on goal from just outside the box with 41:08 mark, but Red Hawk's freshman goalkeeper Gina Policastro was there to make the save.
With less than 30 seconds on the clock, Migliori sent a corner kick that bounced around in the box to the feet of McGinley. She quickly got off a shot that just cleared the crossbar as the opening half ended deadlocked at zero.
The Lions dominated the majority of the second half. The backfield play of Migliori, junior Allison Foy, senior Brenna Rubino, and freshman Jordan Downs was spotless as TCNJ registered its ninth shutout of the season play.
TCNJ pushed hard for a second goal to provide breathing room, but the Red Hawk defense would bend but not break. Sophomore Sloan DePiero blistered a shot in the 66th minute, but Policastro dove to her right to make the save. In the 75th minute, junior Allyson Anderson came close again, firing a low shot that grazed past the right post.
Policastro had an excellent game in net for Montclair State as she made six stops in the contest. The Red Hawks finished their season with a record of 13-5-2.
Lions' freshman Cristina Gacos earned her eighth shutout of the year and first post-season win. She made three saves in the game.
The victory also marked the 399th career win for TCNJ head coach Joe Russo. He now owns a career record of 399-48-28 and would become the seventh coach at any level and the third in Division III to reach 400 wins with a victory on Friday night.
OPENING ROUND
MONTCLAIR STATE 0, WILLIAM PATERSON 0 (2OT) (MSU 3-1 Pks)
MONTCLAIR--Freshman goalkeeper Gina Policastro made two saves while senior Rachel Senyszyn delivered what turned out to be the winning penalty kick in the shootout as third-seeded Montclair State advanced in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament following a scoreless draw with No. 6 seed William Paterson at Sprague Field on October 31.
The Red Hawks moved on after taking the shootout, 3-1 after 110 minutes of scoreless action. MSU (13-4-2) will have a quick turnaround as Montclair now heads to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed The College of New Jersey on Tuesday, November 1 in Ewing at 7:30 pm. The winner advances to Friday’s conference championship game.
Sophomore Alyssa Falduto made five saves in recording her third shutout for William Paterson, which ended its season at 5-8-2.
Much like it’s September 21 meeting won by Montclair State in overtime, 1-0, 90 minutes of regulation plus two 10-minute overtime periods were not enough to declare a winner as the contest headed into penalty kicks.
William Paterson got the first chance, however Nicole Kufel’s attempt was snared by Policastro. Francesca Gibson countered with a conversion as MSU led 1-0 after the first round. Taylor Zabicki was successful on her attempt for the Pioneers in the second round but she was matched by Montclair’s Jenna Carroll as the Red Hawks led 2-1.
Policastro came up big again stopping Michelle Marabondo to start off the third round. Senyszyn would convert her attempt as Montclair State led 3-1. William Paterson’s Ashley Garbowski needed to convert her attempt to keep the Pioneers’ hope alive however her shot caromed off the post.
Policastro made four saves as she collected her seventh shutout of the season.
Montclair State outshot William Paterson 19-8 in the contest however the Pioneers made the most of their opportunities with three attempts on goal in the first 45 minutes, including a header by Heidi Rogers in front of the net at the 40:42 mark that was smothered by Policastro.
Falduto would come up with a key save of her own less than minute later as she denied Kaila Fasano with 3:35 left as the game went to halftime scoreless.
Neither team managed much in the second half getting just one shot on goal apiece. In the first overtime, Falduto stopped two more shots, including back-to-back attempts by Allison Wacker and Senyszyn midway through the period.
Montclair State would come within inches of getting the game-winner in the second OT as Carroll blasted a shot from 35 yards out that clipped the top of the crossbar. The shot eerily similar to Carroll’s game-winning goal against the Pioneers in the September match.
RICHARD STOCKTON 5, NJCU 2
POMONA--Fourth-seeded Richard Stockton met fifth-seeded New Jersey City in the NJAC tournament first round for the second straight year and the Ospreys prevailed for the second year in a row, this time by a 5-2 score.
Jessica Balnis led Stockton with two goals to bring her team-leading total to nine on the season. With the win, the Ospreys advanced to face top-seeded Rowan in the NJAC semifinals on Tuesday at 7 pm.
New Jersey City nearly took an early on a shot by Jennifer Albuja 19 minutes in, but her blast was denied on a diving save by Stockton goalie Sarah Hinkle. Brianna DeStefano later gave the Ospreys a 1-0 lead as she ran onto a through ball by Bridget Connelly and scored with just under six minutes remaining in the half.
The scoring pace escalated late in the second half as the teams combined for six goals in the last 20 minutes. Julia Caseres scored with an assist by Albuja at 70:29 to pull the Gothic Knights into a 1-1 tie. The tally was the first NJAC tournament goal in school history for NJCU, which made its second appearance in the league playoffs.
The 1-1 deadlock was short-lived as Stockton took the lead for good on an own goal just 30 seconds later when a cross by Balnis was inadvertently volleyed into the net by an NJCU defender. Balnis scored a goal of her own just 2:16 after that by converting a feed from Jacque Becker for a 3-1 Stockton advantage.
Only 1:19 passed before Rachel Carlson took a long pass from Lauren McCutcheon and scored her first goal of the season on a breakaway. Five minutes later, Balnis went in alone, juked around NJCU goalie Brittany Hoffman and netted her second marker of the game to increase the lead to 5-1.
The Gothic Knights’ Margie Alfano scored on a 30-yard floater with 5:34 remaining for the 5-2 final score. Albuja collected her second assist of the game on the play.
Hinkle earned the victory in the Stockton net with three saves while Hoffman kept busy throughout the afternoon and finished with 10 stops for NJCU.