Montclair, NJ – Montclair State and The College of New Jersey meeting in the NJAC Women's Soccer Championship. It's almost a yearly ritual that you can set your calendar by like Halloween.  And in this case, both will be true when the fifth-seeded Red Hawks (10-3-5) and top-seeded Lions (11-1-1) meet on Wednesday, October 31 at Lions Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6pm in Ewing.

Tickets for the game are $5 for general admission, $2 for students, children and seniors.

The winner of Wednesday's contest advances to the championship game on Saturday, November 3 at the site of the highest remaining seed. The conference champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship.

For the 11^th time in 20 years of the conference tournament, Montclair State and TCNJ battle with all 10 previous contests taking place in the semifinal or championship games. The Lions have won six of those with four going to penalty kicks including the first one in 1999 when TCNJ prevailed 4-3 in PKs following a 1-1 draw.

The two met for three straight seasons with TCNJ coming out on top 2-0 in 2002 and 2-1 in 2003. The following year the Red Hawks broke through as it won the 2004 game in a shootout, 3-1. TCNJ claimed consecutive 1-0 wins in the 2006 and 2007 championship games and added a third by the identical score in 2011. The next two would get decided by penalty kicks again with the Lions prevailing 4-2 in the shootout in 2013. Montclair returned the favor the next year winning 3-1 in the PKs. TCNJ posted a 1-0 victory in the 2017 matchup.

Wednesday's match will be the second meeting in 11 days as the two played to a scoreless draw in Ewing on October 20.

Montclair State earned its way into the semifinals after knocking out fourth-seeded Rutgers-Camden in Camden on Saturday. Junior EMMA MCLAUGHLIN scored off a corner kick with 1:35 remaining in the game. Kaitlin Scrivanich had the other goal for the Red Hawks while goalkeeper LINDSAY FREEWALT stopped four shots.

TCNJ received a first-round bye after locking up the regular-season championship and No. 1 seed after edging Rowan on October 24 at home. Nikki Butler scored with 2:10 remaining as the Lions overcame an early 1-0 deficit.

Butler leads a very balanced Lions lineup that has seen 14 different players score goals this season. The freshman has six on the year, one more than Taylor Nolan (11 points). Arielle Curtis has three goals with Julia Obst and Randi Smith leading the squad in assists with four and three, respectively. Goalkeeper Nicole DiPasquale sports a miniscule 0.35 goals against average and six shutouts in 12 starts for TCNJ, which has allowed just five goals all season.

For the Red Hawks, junior Emily Beender leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and 26 points. Freshman MADISON MARTINO and senior MICHAELA KNOBLOCK are next at 12 points each with Knoblock posting a league-leading eight assists. Freewalt has registered five shutouts along with a 0.78 goals against average and 71 saves.

Montclair State is making 19^th appearance in the NJAC Women's Soccer Championship since its inception in 1999. The Red Hawks are 10-11-12 all-time including 8-4 in penalty kicks. MSU has claimed three championships in 2004, 2012 and 2014 while reaching the championship game eight times. Last season, Montclair defeated Rutgers-Newark in the first round and advanced in kicks against Rowan in the semifinals before falling at TCNJ in the championship contest.