Fort Myers, FL (3/17/04) - The Montclair State softball team, ranked 13th in Division III, split a pair of games at the Gene Cusic Classic on Wednesday afternoon.

MSU (5-1) fell to ninth-ranked Wheaton (MA), 2-1, to snap their seven-game win streak dating back to last season while handing MSU its first loss in Florida since 2002 - a span of 19 games. Montclair bounced back to edge Buffalo State, 2-1.

In the contest versus Wheaton, the Lyons scored both of its runs in the bottom half of the third inning as Amanda Dow-Allen collected an RBI triple and Jessica Depolito drove in a run with a single. Montclair State, which managed just t two hits on the day, got its run as ATHANASIA TOTARO (Roseland, NJ/West Essex) lead off the second inning with a triple and scored as KARI MCDONNELL (Wrightstown, NJ/No. Burlington) lofted a sacrifice fly.

Cyrstal Sweeney (Edison, NJ/Edison) was the hard-luck loser as she fell to 3-1 on the season. Sweeney allowed two runs and seven hits with five strikeouts. Brittany Ames worked the first five innings to pick up the victory with Jackie Demling striking out three in the final two frames for the save.

In the win over Buffalo State, the Red Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second as TIFFANY ACIZ (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus) reached on an error and stole second. Freshman Crystal Dahlhaus (Parsippany, NJ/Parsippany) then hit a fly ball to left that was misplayed allowing Aciz to score.

The Bengals would tie the game in the fourth, but Montclair State would move back in front in the fifth as DIANA AUTERI (Lyndhurst, NJ/St. Mary's) singled, stole second and scored as McDonnell laced a double.

Sweeney made the lead stand up as she tossed the final two innings with three strikeouts as she earned her first save of the season. Totaro (2-0) earned the victory as she went the first five innings allowing four hits with a walk and two strikeouts. McDonnell was 3-for-3.