Montclair, NJ – Sophomore forward
Maura Johnston (Montville, NJ, Montville) collected her first career hat trick as top-ranked Montclair State used a five-goal first half outburst en route to a 6-3 win over 15th-ranked Cortland at Sprague Field on Saturday.
Senior midfielder
Stephanie Lewis (Garwood, NJ, Arthur L. Johnson) added a goal and assist as the Red Hawks remained unbeaten at 8-0 while winning its 20th consecutive home contest. MSU also captured its 23rd straight regular-season victory and won for the 30th time in its last 32 contests.
Freshman forward Gabrielle Stein (Endwell, NY / Maine-Endwell) had two goals for the Red Dragons (3-2), who dropped their second straight game to a ranked opponent. Cortland fell in overtime to William Smith on Tuesday.
Montclair State, which outshot the Red Dragons 30-8 in the contest, had two chances early on however goalkeeper Amanda Perricone (Bedminster, PA/Pennridge) made two stops on hard shots by MSU's
Jennifer Tafro (Little Falls, NJ, Passaic Valley) in the first four minutes.
The Red Hawks'
Rebecca Brattole (Clark, NJ, Arthur L. Johnson) did the same against Jillian Vogl (Cazenovia, NY / Cazenovia) at the 5:17 mark however Vogl would score a minute later with her third goal of the season with 28:22 left in the opening period. It was the first deficit of the season for Montclair State, which allowed a season-high three goals after giving up just two in its first seven contests.
MSU answered quickly knotting the game on a penalty stroke by Lewis 68 seconds ignited a five-goal run by the Red Hawks. Freshman
Gianna Moglino (Holmdel, NJ, Holmdel) put Montclair in front as she knocked in a feed from
Allison Jillions (Hainesport, NJ, Holy Cross) in front of the cage and Johnston made it 3-1 with 14 minutes left tapping in a pass from
Brooke Hullings (Delran, NJ, Delran).
Johnston would score again at 29:11 of the period banging in a rebound and Montclair scored again 58 seconds later on a goal by
Danielle Butrico (South Plainfield, NJ, South Plainfield) for the 5-1 lead at the break.
Cortland battled back in the second half as Stein scored 6:09 into the period and again at 52:29 giving the Red Dragons some momentum as the lead closed to 5-3.
But Johnston put to rest any hopes of a Cortland comeback with her third goal at 60:35 tipping in a shot by
Abby Erler (New Hampton, NH, Newfound Regional)
.
Perricone finished with 11 saves for Cortland while Brattole stopped four. Each team picked up a defensive save as Bri Musselman (Bethlehem, PA / Freedom) recording Cortland's while Sierra Rauchbach got one for MSU.
Montclair State posted its second straight win against the Red Dragons having won in Cortland 1-0 last season. Cortland leads the series 4-2.
The Red Hawks return to action on Wednesday, September 25 as its hosts local and NJAC rival William Paterson at 7:00 pm. Cortland is back home on Friday, September 27 for its SUNYAC opener against Morrisville at 4:00 pm.
