Montclair, NJ – Junior midfielder Tristen Konen scored seven goals as No. 24/15 Montclair State used a five-goal run bridging the first and second halves in a 20-10 victory over fourth-seeded Stockton in the semifinals of the NJAC Tournament at Sprague Field on Wednesday evening.

Senior midfielder MEGAN MAHLSTADT added three goals and four assists as the Red Hawks (8-0) remained unbeaten and advanced to the championship game on Saturday, May 1 at Sprague Field against second-seeded The College of New Jersey. TCNJ defeated No. 3 seed Rowan, 19-12 earlier in the day.

The game will be a rematch of the conference opener for both teams back on April 3 as Montclair registered its first win over the Lions in program history with a 10-9 win at home. It will also be third time the two will square off for the conference crown and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship. TCNJ won the previous meetings in 2016 and 2017.
Jennifer Toal had three goals for Stockton, which concluded its season at 4-5 with two of the losses coming to MSU, including a 14-13 overtime setback in Montclair on April 17.

The first half was a series of pendulum scoring swings. The Red Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Mahlstadt and Konen only to see the Ospreys answered with three, including a Nicole Jandras free-position tally with 18:40 left giving Stockton the lead.

RHIANNON BROWN and BRITTANY COSTIGAN connected 17 seconds apart less than a minute later sending MSU back in front, however Pascrell set up Holly Yannacone and Toal making the score 5-4 in favor of Stockton. HALEY DORAN knotted the game at 5-5 with 14 minutes to go before Montclair exploded for four goals in a 2:31 span to take control.

Costigan recorded the first with 4:01 left and Brown scored 19 seconds later. Costigan's third of half pushed the lead to 8-5 with Konen scoring 22 seconds later for a four-goal cushion. Toal would break the Montclair run with 38 seconds to play, however AMBER GONZALEZ and KAITLYN ARCEDE each found the back of the net in the final 26 seconds as MSU led 11-6 at halftime.

Konen kept that run going to start the second half, registering the first two goals with Mahlstadt's second of the game extending the lead to 14-6. The Ospreys would answer with three of the next four goals, cutting the deficit to 15-9 on a Pascrell goal with 11:55 left. The Red Hawks put the game away with another three-goal run, the last two by Konen as Montclair State led 18-9 with 8:55 remaining.

Brown finished with three goals and two assists for MSU, which got nine draws from Costigan and six by Gonzalez. MEGHAN GORMAN forced three turnovers while goalkeeper ALLYN LILIEN stopped 16 shots.