Montclair, NJ (11/11/06) –Senior
KRISTEN SWARTZ (Hatboro, PA / Hatboro-Horsham) and
JEN SOSS (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) each scored once as top-seeded Montclair State blanked No. 4 seed Catholic University, 3-0 in the semifinals of the ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Field Hockey Championship at Sprague Field on Saturday evening.
JENNA GALLO (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) had a goal for MSU (16-3), which will now head to the championship game on Sunday, November 12 at 2:00 pm against second-seeded Johns Hopkins. It will be the Red Hawks fourth appearance in the ECAC title game and first since 2001 when it defeated Catholic, 1-0 in Washington, DC.
Marian Cassilly (Gambrills, MD/Archbishop Spalding) made four saves for Catholic, which finished its season at 13-8. The Cardinals, who are now 0-3 against Montclair State, were making their third appearance in the ECAC Mid-Atlantic Championship.
Swartz gave the Red Hawks a 1-0 lead 8:08 into the game as she notched her 16 th goal of the season.
JENNIFER TANIS (Oak Ridge, NJ/Jefferson), who had two assists in the game, and Swartz moved in on a two-on-none break. Tanis drove in from the left side toward the goal before flipping a pass off Cassilly and onto the stick of Swartz, who banged home the feed for the goal. Catholic nearly tied the game three minutes later, however the goal was disallowed and kept MSU in front as the Red Hawks took the one-goal lead into halftime.
In the second half, Soss extended the lead at the 45:48 mark with her eighth goal of the season. Off the penalty corner from Tanis , Soss fired a shot from the top of the circle inside the left post for the score. Gallo capped the Montclair State scoring with 6:12 to play. Off another penalty corner, Soss took the insert pass and fed Gallo on the right side. Gallo then let loose a shot into the right side of the cage for her fourth of the season.
JACQUIE SUPKO ( Moorestown , NJ / Moorestown ) made three saves as she recorded her fourth shutout of the season.
The Red Hawks held a 7-4 advantage in shots and a 9-6 edge in penalty corner.
