Montclair, NJ – Sophomore midfielder Melissa Koster (Yardville, NJ, Steinert) scored on the third round of penalty kicks which proved to be the decisive margin as 13th-ranked and top-seeded Montclair State advanced to the NJAC Women's Soccer Championship Game ousting fourth-seeded Richard Stockton on Friday evening.

Freshman Martina Landeka (Westfield, NJ, Westfield), sophomore Francesca Gibson (Cape May, NJ, Lower Cape May Regional) and freshman Claire Midili (Sewell, NJ, Washington Township) all converted attempts in the shootout after the teams played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer. MSU advanced on kicks, 4-2.

Montclair State (15-1-2) will face sixth-seeded Kean University for the conference title and league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship on Sunday, November 4 at MSU Soccer Park beginning at 11:00 am. Kean defeated second-seeded Rowan, 2-1 in the other semifinal. The Red Hawks won the in-season meeting with the Cougars, 4-3 in overtime in Montclair on October 10.

It will be the fifth trip to the NJAC championship game for MSU, which is seeking its second conference crown as Montclair won the title in 2004 after the Red Hawks penalty-kicked their way to the championship that season ousting Stockton and TCNJ in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Richard Stockton (16-3-3) will now wait to see if it can earn one of the at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament which will be announced on Monday, November 5 at 2:00 pm on NCAA.com.

Both teams entered the week in the Top 8 of the NCAA South Atlantic Regional rankings. Montclair State was first with Richard Stockton seventh.

Friday evening's game was another epic postseason battle between the two teams, who played an overtime/penalty kick contest for the 12th time in 33 all-time meetings. It is the third time that the Red Hawks and Ospreys needed penalty kicks to decide the outcome in an NJAC Tournament game and in all three Montclair State has come out the victor (2004, 2006 and 2012).

With 90 minutes, plus two 10-minute overtime periods not enough to decide a winner, the game went to penalty kicks. Montclair went first and got a conversion from Landeka which was matched by Stockton's Jess McQuillen (Tabernacle, NJ / Seneca).  Gibson nailed her attempt for MSU which then led 2-1 as keeper Gina Policastro (East Brunswick, NJ, East Brunswick) stopped Jacque Becker (Hamilton, NJ / Steinert) on her kick.

Koster converted to open the third round and the Ospreys' Briana Fischer (Brick, NJ / Brick) answered as Montclair State led 3-2. Midili made it 4-for-4 for Montclair State as she put the ball in the back of net. Needing to convert to keep the match going, Marissa Bruno (Toms River, NJ / Toms River East) fired a shot that clipped the right post and bounced out sending Montclair State to the NJAC Championship Game for the first time since 2006.

Policastro finished with four saves as she recorded her ninth shutout for Montclair State. Stockton goalkeeper Sarah Hinkle (Mullica Hill, NJ / Paul VI) also had four saves in collecting her sixth shutout of the year.

Montclair State outshot Richard Stockton 13-11 and had an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks.