Montclair, NJ – Junior midfielder
Jennifer Tafro (Little Falls, NJ, Passaic Valley) scored twice and had an assisted on the other goal as third-ranked and top-seeded Montclair State claimed its first New Jersey Athletic Conference Field Hockey Championship with a 3-0 victory over 16th-ranked and No. 3 seed Rowan at Sprague Field on Sunday evening.
Senior
Kate Norgard (Columbia, NJ, North Warren) scored the other goal as the Red Hawks earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will be the among the field announced on Sunday evening when the NCAA releases its bracket on NCAA.com.
It will be Montclair State's fourth appearance in the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship and second straight as the Red Hawks also made trips in 2003, 2005 and 2011 each time reaching the second round.
The Red Hawks (19-1) also extended their winning streak to 17 games as they posted victory No. 19, tying the school record set last year when MSU finished 19-3.
Senior goalkeeper Jen Goldberg (Clark, NJ / Arthur L. Johnson) made five saves for Rowan (15-6), which will wait to see if it earns an at-large bid. The Profs dropped their second meeting with MSU this season having also lost 3-0 at Sprague Field on September 22.
Scoreless through the first half, Tafro untied the game 9:44 into the second half with the first of her two goals. Off a penalty corner, senior
Frances Schaefer (Egg Harbor City, NJ, Holy Spirit) fired a shot from just inside the top of the circle that Goldberg kicked away. However, the ball bounced right back to Tafro, who slammed the rebound into the back of the cage for the goal as MSU led 1-0.
Three minutes, MSU widened its lead at Norgard recorded her 15th of the year taking a pass from Tafro before rifling a one-time from eight yards out giving MSU the 2-0 advantage at 48:36.
Tafro would get her second goal at 53:50 finishing off a pass from
Brooke Hullings (Delran, NJ, Delran).
The rest was left up to Montclair State's defense and goalkeeper
Megan Bosland (Boonton, NJ, Boonton), who made five saves and recorded her eighth shutout of the season in the victory.
Montclair State outshot Rowan, 16-10 with the Red Hawks also hold a slim 8-7 advantage in penalty corners.
