Montclair, NJ – Senior forward
VICTORIA ROSSI and sophomore
KELLY WATSON each scored goals in the second half as No. 7 Montclair State followed up its big win on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over local rival William Paterson on Wednesday evening.
AMBER HASLETT picked up two assists as the Red Hawks extended their winning streak to eight games improving to 15-1 on the season and more importantly a 5-0 mark in the NJAC. Mallory Rickerhauser had 13 saves for William Paterson (6-9, 1-4 NJAC).
The win over WPU now sets up a showdown on Saturday, October 20 as Montclair hosts No. 4 Rand undefeated Rowan University (15-0, 5-0 NJAC) at Sprague Field beginning at 5pm. The victor captures the NJAC regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament which begins on Wednesday, October 31.
For the second time in three games, Montclair State held a decisive advantage in shots yet found itself in a battle. The Red Hawks outshot William Paterson 32-4 in the game, including 16-1 in the opening period.
Rickerhauser, who made eight stops in the first half, collected her ninth 1:41 into the second period as she stopped Kailey Dalaguer. The Pioneers countered at the other end getting its first on goal that was knocked away by
NICOLE ANDRIANI. WPU got another shot off that went wide before Montclair tilted the field in its favor.
Dalgauer had a shot go wide to the left and a
HANNAH BOLLINGER shot was blocked at 47:25 before Montclair State finally broke through. Rossi, who had the game-winning goal in MSU's 2-1 win over TCNJ, found the cage again finishing off a feed from Haslett with 22:04 left for the 1-0 Montclair advantage.
Rickerhauser came up with another stop against Bollinger with 6:55 remaining and Rossi came within inches of a second goal however her attempt was batted away by defender Alexis Land.
The Red Hawks added an insurance goal with 30 seconds remaining as Watson took a pass back from Haslett and scored from the left side, her fourth of the year.
Andriani, the NJAC and NFHCA Division III Defensive Player of the Week, recorded her sixth shutout of the season.
