San Antonio, TX – The finest season in the history of the Montclair State women's soccer program came to an end on Friday evening as the Red Hawks were knocked out of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship with a 2-1 loss to Trinity University.
The loss was the MSU's first of the season as Montclair ended the year at 20-1-1. Montclair State set a school record for victories and advanced to the Sectional Tournament of the NCAAs for the first time. The Red Hawks also captured the NJAC regular-season championship and advanced to the conference title game for the second straight year. Montclair also rose to the Top 5 in both national polls and was ranked No. 1 by D3Soccer.com for several weeks.
Montclair began the game with three consecutive corner kicks however the Tigers (23-0-2) were able to thwart those opportunities and then went on the offensive with a pair of shots on goal that were stopped by goalkeeper
Gina Policastro (East Brunswick, NJ, East Brunswick).
Policastro would make one more save and the game went scoreless until the closing moments when Trinity was awarded a corner kick. The Tigers placed the ball perfectly with Yasmeen Farra heading the ball into the back of the net for the goal giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead with 2:12 remaining in the half. It was the first goal allowed by Montclair State since October 12, snapping a streak of 797:29 minutes.
In the second half, Montclair quickly got a shot on goal however Devan Osegueda snared a shot by
Taylor Rudd (Ocean Township, NJ, Ocean). Four minutes later Trinity would add to the lead as Kelsey Falcone scored off an assist from Emily Donnan at 51:40.
Montclair State would answer quickly cutting the deficit in half as freshman
Jennie Hornstra (Clifton, NJ, Clifton) scored off an assist from
Kaila Fasano (Westwood, NJ, Westwood) at 56:41.
Policastro finished with three saves.
Montclair State, which trailed in a game for the first time this season, was outshot in the game 13-7. The two goals allowed by the Red Hawks matched the total number it had given up in the first 21 contests. The four goals were the fewest allowed in a season.
