Tourney Bound: Montclair St. Stags Skyline
from press release
MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Sophomore midfielder Cora Delfini
(New Egypt, NJ / New Egypt) scored six goals and added an assist,
earning Most Valuable Player honors as top-seeded Montclair State
reclaimed the Skyline Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship with
a 17-6 victory over No. 2 seed Ramapo College at Sprague Field on
Saturday afternoon.
Junior Kayla Henderson (Landing, NJ / Roxbury) added four goals
while Lauren Adams (Jackson, NJ / Jackson Memorial) collected three
goals and four assists as the Red Hawks (12-4) claimed the
conference crown for the fourth time in five years while also
earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's
Lacrosse Championship. Selections for the NCAA will be announced on
Sunday, May 9.
It will be MSU's third trip to the NCAAs having gone in 2007 and
2008.
Sophomore Amanda Baretta (Roseland, NJ / West Essex) and freshman
Adrianna Tepedino (Freehold, NJ / Freehold Township) had two goals
apiece for Ramapo (10-6), which had its three-game winning streak
snapped. The Roadrunners reached the final by knocking off
defending champion Farmingdale State, 15-10 in the semifinals on
Thursday.
Montclair State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first nine minutes
of the game. Adams set up Delfini for the first goal 1:55 into the
contest and then fed Henderson for her first with 24:24 left as MSU
went up by two. Morgan MacPhee (Toms River, NJ / Toms River East)
followed with an unassisted tally two minutes later and Delfini's
first 34 seconds after that put the Red Hawks in front by four with
21:38 remaining.
Barretta would get Ramapo on the board with an unassisted score
with 19:57 to play however Montclair would go on a six-goal run to
open up a 10-1 lead. Henderson and Delfini started off the spurt
with unassisted goals and MacPhee connected off an assist from Jess
Curran (Yorktown Heights, NY / Lakeland) to make the score 7-1.
Delfini's third of the contest came on a free position shot with
8:27 to go and unassisted goals by Kailee Beal (Succasunna, NJ /
Roxbury) and Henderson (player-down goal) capped the run as
Montclair led 10-2 at the break.
Delfini and MacPhee scored the first two goals in the second half
to push the lead to 12-2 for Montclair before Ramapo answered back
with goals by Tepedino and Jenna Pfarr (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) to
make the score 12-4 with 21:54 on the clock. Adams found Henderson
a minute later and then scored one of her own with 19:19 left as
MSU restored the lead to 14-4.
Freshman goalkeeper Tiffani Henderson (Landing, NJ / Roxbury) made
eight saves for Montclair State, which outshot the Roadrunners,
32-17 in the game. Delfini added five draws and two ground balls
while defenders Ashley Krzysik (Landing, NJ / Roxbury) and Kristin
Quigley (Mount Laurel, NJ / Lenape) had four ground balls apiece.
Kryzsik, Sara Watson (Medford Lakes, NJ / Shawnee) and Jamie
Hudacko (Montville, NJ / Montville) each forced two turnovers.
Hudacko also had three draws as did Quigley.
Senior goalkeeper Megan Tierney (Wayne, NJ / Wayne Hills) stopped
11 shots for Ramapo, which got four draws from Barretta. Pfarr
added three draws while Tepedino collected six ground balls, two
draws and three forced turnovers. Kristen Jakubik (Cranford, NJ /
Cranford) had two caused turnovers.
The championship also continued Montclair State's dominance in the
Skyline Conference since joining the league in 2006. In the last
five years, Montclair has won four regular-season and tournament
titles and has posted an overall mark of 40-2 in the league which
includes regular-season (31-1) and post-season contests (9-1).
