Upper Montclair, NJ (11/12/03) --- The Montclair State University men's soccer team, seeded third in the ECAC Division III Metro Tournament, advanced to the semifinal round by defeating sixth-seeded Manhattanville College on penalty kicks today at a muddy MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field. The game was tied, 3-3, after 110 minutes of play and is officially recorded as a tie, although MSU advanced by winning on penalty kicks, 4-2.

Montclair (14-3-4 overall) went first in penalty kicks, with MATT CASWELL (Piscataway, NJ) scoring first, only to be matched by Scott Vieira (Staten Island, NY) of the Valiants. SEAN HORAN (Tinton Falls, NJ) and Matt Quick (Goshen, NY) then exchanged misses before ANDREW MACHO (N. Arlington, NJ), KYLE HUGHES (Wayne, NJ) and MIKE HOGAN ((Parsippany, NJ) all scored for Montclair to send MSU into the semifinals for the second consecutive season. Chris Myrtos (Scarborough, ON) missed for Manhattanville (12-7-2 overall) before Pietro Pasqualino (Mississauga, ON) scored on his team's final try.

The Red Hawks will now host seventh-seeded New Jersey City University on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Sprague Field at 5:30 pm. MSU topped NJCU, 3-1, back on Oct. 15.

Illyas Tasci (Paramus, NJ) opened the scoring for the Red Hawks at 33:38 of regulation, converting the rebound of a shot by RYAN MORGAN (Princeton, NJ) that clanged of the right post. The visiting Valiants responded at 36:05 as Justin Sweeney (New York, NY) scored from 25 yards out on the right wing. Montclair then took a 3-1 lead on back-to-back goals, with Morgan scoring his team-leading 10th of the year at 43:35, on a header off an MSU corner kick. Horan followed at 57:20 with his ninth score of the fall, chipping home a pass from the left side by Tasci.

Manhattanville then tallied twice in a 28-second span to again knot matters, as Vieira and David Ferreira (Bellerose, NY) set up Myrtos for a successful header off a corner kick at 62:44. Vieira then connected in front at 63:12 for his 21st of the campaign, with Ferreira recording his second assist. A.J. Kretschmer (Wading River, NY) finished with eight saves for the Valiants, including a penalty-kick save on Hogan at 48:21 where he dove to his left. DAVID AVILES (Dover, NJ) had five stops for MSU, including a one-handed save on Vieira from in close in the second overtime session.

Montclair State outshot Manhattanville, 27-20, and had five of the game's nine corner kicks, while the two teams combined for 26 fouls and four yellow cards. Both teams were offside four times.