Upper Montclair, NJ (10/18/03) --- The Montclair State University men's soccer team, ranked eighth in NCAA Division III, closed out the home portion of its 2003 regular season schedule with a 2-2 double-overtime tie today against Kean University at MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field.

The Red Hawks are now 13-1-2 on the season and 4-0-3 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while the visiting Cougars are 9-4-3 on the year and 3-2-2 in the conference. MSU also finished 8-0-1 at home this season and is now unbeaten in its last seven games overall (6-0-1), although its six-game winning streak begun back on Oct. 1 has ended.

Senior midfielder STEVE LEONARD (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock) put Montclair up, 1-0, just 24:11 into the game when he headed home a long free kick from the right side by sophomore back MIKE HOGAN (Parsippany, NJ/Parsippany). MSU then went up, 2-0, at 68:35 when sophomore midfielder SEAN HORAN (Tinton Falls, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) took a throw-in by Leonard and fired a low shot inside the right post of the Kean net.

Forced to play a man down due to a red card against freshman forward RYAN MORGAN (Princeton, NJ/Princeton) less than four minutes into the second half, however, MSU saw Kean cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal by Jorge Montesinos (Dover, NJ/Dover) at 73:57, off a scramble at the left post following a cross by Pete Cappiello (Wall, NJ/Wall). The Red Hawks were 62 seconds away from stretching their winning string to seven games when James Hempel (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) put in a shot off the left post of the Montclair cage, assisted by Demont Heard (Princeton, NJ/Princeton), to tie the contest.

Kean outshot Montclair on the afternoon, 33-8, including 18-4 in the second half and 8-0 over the two overtimes. Sophomore goalkeeper EDGARD DINTEN (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) finished with 13 saves in 110 minutes for the Red Hawks, including three stops in overtime. Senior netminder Peter-John Falloon (Jamaica/Ardenne) finished with two saves for the Cougars, both in the first half.

MSU returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 25, at The College of New Jersey.