Montclair, NJ – Senior attack MATT HAEMMERLE scored eight times and added three assists as second-seeded Montclair State cruised past third-seeded Kean University, 20-7 in the semifinals of the Colonial States Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday.

Senior DAN BELLEZZA tallied five goals along with two assists as the Red Hawks (10-6) advance to the CSAC Championship Game next Saturday, May 4. MSU will either travel to top-seeded Stockton or host fourth-seeded Bryn Athyn as those two teams square off in Galloway, NJ on Saturday evening.

It will be Montclair's 11^th straight conference championship game appearance. The Red Hawks made 10 consecutive trips to the Skyline Conference Championship from 2008-2017 before going independent for the 2018 campaign.

Jake Frankovits scored three times for the Cougars (11-6), who were looking to avenge a 22-15 loss to MSU last week. Mike Snellen had two goals while Ryan Sieb stopped 17 shots.

Montclair State put the first three goals on the board all of them coming in an 84-second span during the opening quarter. Haemmele set up TYLER MCCREERY for the first goal with Bellezza feeding JESSE JAMES WEST for a 2-0 lead. Haemmerle got his own 30 seconds later for a 3-0 advantage with 10:29 left. Snellen snapped a minute later however Bellezza came up with a man-down goal with three minutes to play giving MSU a 4-1 lead after one.

Frankovits opened the second quarter with a goal for the Cougars, however the Red Hawks countered with four in a row. Haemmerle connected with 9:55 to go with Bellezza scoring 39 seconds later on a man-advantage. Haemmerle added another man-up with 8:33 remaining before CHRISTIAN BOYLE tallied two minutes later making the score 8-2. After a Snellen goal, Boyle got his second sending MSU into the break with 9-3 lead.

Montclair outscored Kean 4-3 in the fourth quarter to increase its lead to 13-6. Faceoff specialist KYLE MATTHEWS had one of those as he won the faceoff, scooped up the ground ball and scored just 10 seconds after Bellezza recorded his fourth of the contest.

The Red Hawks closed out the game with seven of the final eight goals. BRYAN PETERS scored with 3:20 to play and Montclair hit five seconds later as Matthews won the faceoff and found Haemmerle in front for the final goal. It would be the second-fastest time between goals by the same team in NCAA Division III history missing the all-time record by one tick on the clock.

Goalkeeper MATTHEW MCLAREN was outstanding in goal stopping 17 shots. Matthews, who last week set the single-game record for faceoff wins (24) in the victory over Kean, was again solid at the "X" going 17-of-28 with eight ground balls. TYLER BALL forced six turnovers and registered three ground balls while defender TIM KIRN collected six ground balls and five caused turnovers.

Haemmerle's eight goals were the second-best single-game total in program history.