Montclair, NJ (4/28/04) - Senior attacker CATHY HOMIEK (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South), who leads the nation in assists, turned goal scorer on Wednesday afternoon tallying a career-high five as second-seeded Montclair State erupted for 12 second half goals en route to a 14-7 victory over third-seeded Kean University in the semifinals of the Knickerbocker Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament at Sprague Field.

Freshman BRIANNA GILLIN (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnminson) scored four times for the Red Hawks (11-2), who will face top-seeded Stevens Tech in the championship game on Saturday, May 1 in Hoboken at 1:00 pm. Stevens Tech topped fourth-seeded Manhattanville, 16-7. The Ducks handed Montclair State its first loss of the season, 10-5 on April 14 in Hoboken.

Gio Buono (Plainsboro, NJ/West-Windsor-Plainsboro South) had three goals and three assists for Kean (7-5), which fell to Montclair State for the second time this season.

Homiek recorded her second 10-point game this season as she added five assists giving her 73 this season, breaking her own single-season mark of 70 set in 2003.

Montclair State trailed 4-2 at halftime and was behind 5-3 before scoring the next nine goals. Homiek began the run with her second of the game and ANGELA GIAMPINO (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson) tied the contest with 17:27 remaining as she put in her own rebound. The Red Hawks then took the lead 20 seconds later as ERIN BALINT (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) gained the draw and fed a long pass to Homiek, who bounced a shot past Lydia Pinto (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson).

SHAUNA BROCKLEBANK (Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch) gave Montclair a 7-5 lead with 15:26 left and Homiek tallied 12 seconds later, her fourth of the game. Brocklebank pushed the MSU lead to 9-5 as she converted on the free position attempt with 13:41 to play before Gillin capped off the Red Hawks' run with a pair of goals.

Pinto made 11 saves for Kean while Montclair State's KRISTEN KUHMANN (Beachwood, NJ/Toms River South) made 10. The Red Hawks outshot Kean, 31-17, including a 16-1 advantage during the 9-0 run.

Kean, which fell to Montclair State, 14-4 at Sprague Field just 11 days ago, used a slow-down offense to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Cougars controlled the ball for nearly all of the first 11 minutes of the game and broke on top as Melissa Nunez (Lincoln Park, NJ/Boonton) scored at the three-minute mark. Buono extended the lead just over two minutes later as she scored on a free-position shot and added a second marker at 20:27.

MSU would answer back with goals from NICOLE LAROCCA (Shamong, NJ/Shawnee) and Homiek to cut the lead to 3-2, however, Stephanie Lovallo (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) and Buono completed a perfect fast-break with 1:26 left before half to give the Cougars the two-goal lead heading into intermission.