Field Hockey | 7/16/2014 11:28:00 AM
Montclair, NJ – For the last two seasons, the Montclair State field hockey team has been one of the top programs in Division III reaching the national quarterfinals each year. This season a run to a third consecutive appearance will be challenging as the Red Hawks will once again face a difficult schedule in 2014.
MSU's 18-game ledger begins on the very first day of competition for 2014-15 as it hosts Eastern University on Friday, August 29 at Sprague Field. It will the first of a back-to-back homestand to open the season as Montclair will take on Rensselaer the following day, August 30.
Following road games at Muhlenberg and Drew on September 3 and September 6, respectively, Montclair State will face a tough task on September 10th when New Paltz comes to MSU. The Hawks are coming off a second-round NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013, including an upset of William Smith College in the first round that sent New Paltz to Sprague Field where it fell to eventual national champion Bowdoin in the second round. The Red Hawks will also head to Cortland for a September 20th meeting with the Red Dragons.
The two-time defending New Jersey Athletic Conference champions open defense of their league crown on Wednesday, September 24 hosting Kean University. Four days later the Red Hawks face perhaps their toughest game on the schedule. MSU squares off against 2013 national semifinalist Middlebury College in Albany, NY on September 28. It will be just the second meeting between the teams and the first since a 3-2 Middlebury win in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2003.
The local rivalry between Montclair State and William Paterson is renewed on the first Friday of October as the two meet in Wayne, NJ on the 3rd. MSU heads to Ewing, NJ on Saturday, October 11 for an evening match with the Lions of The College of New Jersey. Montclair has not had a large amount of success against TCNJ over the years however it holds the upper hand of late winning the last three meetings, including a 1-0 victory in the NJAC Championship Game in 2013.
Montclair will have one more homestand in the latter part of the season with three straight contests at Sprague Field, two of them NJAC contests that could be pivotal for the league standings. The Red Hawks face Richard Stockton on October 18 in a rematch of their NJAC Tournament semifinal a year ago and battle Rowan a week later on October 25. The Profs handed MSU their first loss of the season in 2013 snapping Montclair's 10-game winning streak.
MSU closes out its regular season on the road taking on Ramapo in its final NJAC game on October 28 before finishing up at Gwynedd-Mercy on November 1.
The third New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament takes place on Wednesday, November 5 with semifinal action with the championship contest slated for Saturday, November 8 at the site of the highest seed. The winner of the NJAC Tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.
