Montclair, NJ – Freshman TYLER MCCREERY scored five goals while senior DAN BELLEZZA added three along with five assists as Montclair State pulled away from Kean University in the second half for a 22-15 victory at Sprague Field on Saturday afternoon.

Junior faceoff specialist KYLE MATTHEWS broke on school record and tied another as the Red Hawks (8-6, 4-1 CSAC) clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Colonial States Athletic Conference Tournament. MSU will be at home on Saturday, April 27 against the very same Kean team.

Mike Snellen and Cole Blackley scored four goals apiece for the Cougars (10-5, 3-2 CSAC), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.

The Red Hawks dominated the first quarter scoring eight of the 11 goal in the period. After trading the first two, Montclair went on a four-goal run over a three-minute span. SEAN STADTLANDER collected the first two with MICHAEL FERDINANDI scoring with 8:12 left for a 5-1 advantage. MATT HAEMMERLE got the last one a minute later extending the lead to five.

Blackley answered for Kean with a pair of man-up goals 42 seconds apart cutting the lead to two. Montclair State would score three times during a 60-second span later for the 8-3 lead. McCreery collected the first with JESSE JAMES WEST and Bellezza tallying 38 second apart inside two minutes.

Kean flipped the script in the second quarter outscoring MSU 7-2. Snellen had three in the period, the last coming with 1:35 to play before halftime that tied the game at 10-10.

MSU swung the momentum back in its favor in the third with three goals to open the half. McCreery scored 22 seconds in with Stadtlander getting another before Bellezza's goal with 11:34 left boosted the lead to 13-10. The Cougars got one back however West and McCreery tallied 34 seconds apart pushing the Red Hawks advantage to 15-11 with 8:56 remaining.

Montclair State carried a 16-12 lead into the final period and then put the game away scoring six of seven during a nine-minute run in the fourth. Bellezza had a goal and three assists during the stretch as the Red Hawks pulled away for a 20-13 lead with 8:41 to go.

Haemmerle, West and Stadtlander each finished with four goals. Matthews was 24-of-37 at the "X" breaking the 25-year-old single-game record of 23 set by Mike Como at Southhampton on March 26, 1994. He also registered 14 ground balls matching Blasé Mantineo's record of 14 set versus Stevens in March 2017. JACK CARDEW and MATTHEW MCLAREN each stopped six shots while TYLER BALL forced three turnovers and scooped up two ground balls.                   

Montclair State closes out its regular-season on Tuesday, April 23 when it travels to Keystone College for a 7:00 pm matchup against the Giants.