TAMPA, FL – The College of Saint Rose women's soccer team ran into formidable scoring machine in its first “Final Four” appearance in school history this evening as the University of West Florida upended the Golden Knights 4-0 in the national semifinals of the 2008 Women's College Soccer Championships at Pepin Stadium.

The Argonauts (24-0-1), who remain the only unbeaten club in the country, will meet #4 Seattle Pacific (21-1-2) in the program's first national championship game at 3:30 pm Saturday. The Falcons advanced to the title match via a 3-1 decision over #7 Metro State (20-2-3), thus redeeming themselves after falling to Franklin Pierce University in a national semifinal contest a year ago.

“We have had a phenomenal year,” said Saint Rose head coach Laurie Darling Gutheil. “Tonight's result is not reflective of the season that we had. The first goal was unfortunate but again the flow of play was not indicative of a 4-0 result.”

West Florida wound up outshooting the Golden Knights by only a 17-11 margin and created just one more corner kick (4-3) than Saint Rose on the evening. Nevertheless, the Argos' team speed presented problems for a Golden Knights' defense that had not allowed four goals in four previous NCAA Tournament games combined.

“It was tough from the back,” said Saint Rose sophomore fullback Katie Whiting. “They [West Florida] are very fast. I think we will be back though.”

Freshman midfielder Christina Cuffari and senior forward Kailey Egbert created a pair of dangerous opportunities for Saint Rose in the opening 20 minutes. Cuffari collected a ball in space on the left channel and ripped a shot from 25-yards out that sailed just over the crossbar. Four minutes later, Egbert directed a header just wide of the net off a set piece by sophomore midfielder Amanda Deck.

West Florida junior midfielder Jodi Galucci broke a scoreless tie in the 22nd minute after taking advantage of an uncharacteristically careless clear attempt by Saint Rose. The ball was initially played deep into the Golden Knights' end where junior keeper Shannon Murphy came off her line to play the ball forward. However, Galucci subsequently blocked the kick, ran it down and found the empty net to give the Argos a 1-0 edge.

Cuffari nearly found an answer in the 35th when she earned a free kick from 20-yards out on the right side. Cuffari blasted the ensuing kick near post in an effort to catch West Florida junior keeper Courtney Jones off balance, but the ball sailed just wide of the frame that allowed the Argos to walk into the locker room with a 1-0 margin.

The early moments of the second period saw both clubs race end-to-end looking for pay dirt. Saint Rose sophomore midfielder Jazmine Farrell cut the ball back to her right foot from the left side of the penalty box and tried to beat Jones far post, but Jones made a diving stop to keep the Golden Knights off the board.

“Saint Rose is a very good club,” said West Florida head coach Joe Bartlinski. “They are very athletic and come at you in waves. We did not have any scouting report having never played them before. Once we got comfortable and put the ball on the ground we had a little more consistency.”

The Argos finally gave themselves some breathing room as junior midfielder Dernelle Mascall found the back of the net in the 60th, set up freshman midfielder Jordan Stone in the 70th before Daktronics National Player of the Year Shaneka Gordon put the finishing touches on her 23rd strike of the season in the 77th to give West Florida the final 4-0 cushion.

“These girls are great,” said Egbert, a tri-captain that is part of a senior class that racked up 69 wins in their four-year careers. “We have done many things that this program never did before like getting past the 'Sweet 16' and winning a regional championship. I am so proud. You can't be upset by going as far as we did.”

Aside from the program's first “Final Four” appearance, the Golden Knights established a school record for wins (20), tied a single-season mark for consecutive victories (11) and became only the fourth team since 1985 to capture back-to-back Northeast-10 Conference titles. Saint Rose garnered its sixth NCAA Tournament berth within the past seven years and won the East Regional Championship, another first for the program. 

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