TAMPA – The College of Saint Rose had its historic 2009 campaign come to a heartbreaking close tonight with a 3-2 overtime loss to Grand Valley State (MI) in an NCAA Tournament national semifinal encounter at Pepin Stadium on the University of Tampa campus. Last season, the Golden Knights were upended by West Florida at this same juncture of their NCAA run.

The Lakers (21-0-4) scored three unanswered goals including the game-winner just shy of the five minute mark in the extra session to set up a national championship date with either Cal State-Dominguez Hills or West Florida on Saturday. Junior midfielder Kristen Eible struck a volley from 15-yards out to provide the difference for the Lakers, who entered the game ranked #3 in the final regular-season NSCAA/Adidas Division II Poll.

“I think we played great today. We came ready to play. We scored two fantastic goals, Shannon (Murphy) was great in the net and our work rate was outstanding. We just caught a bad break in the end against an athletic team. It was a game that nobody deserved to lose,” said Saint Rose head coach Laurie Darling Gutheil whose team has been ranked #2 in the NSCAA poll for the last two months.

Grand Valley State outshot the Golden Knights (24-1-0) by a 19-11 margin and generated eight corner kicks, while yielding only a pair.

Regardless, Saint Rose put itself in an enviable position by scoring two goals within the opening three minutes. However, the Lakers made their presence felt by striking a minute later, which marked the first opening half goal the Golden Knights yielded all year.

Sophomore forward Nicola D'Errico and her twin sister Gianna D'Errico put Saint Rose up 1-0 just 58 seconds into the match. Gianna delivered a line drive cross from the right flank to Nicola who one-timed it home for the score.

Two minutes later, sophomore midfielder Christina Cuffari whistled a free kick that rattled off the cross bar toward fellow sophomore midfielder Brittany Godin who got to it first among a cluster of players at the Grand Valley State door step for a 2-0 Saint Rose lead.

Grand Valley State awoke from its brief slumber though and struck just two minutes later to cut its deficit in half. Sophomore midfielder Erin Mruz found the top-left corner from 15-yards out after Eible and senior forward Irie Dennis created space for her with two quick touches on the right flank.

Saint Rose still managed to control play throughout the majority of the first half although the Lakers, who generated 84 goals throughout 24 contests entering the match, repeatedly probed the Golden Knights defensive third and dictated the pace of play during the final 10 minutes prior to intermission.

Grand Valley State retained its fast pace and created several stellar opportunities for the equalizer in the opening 25 minutes of the second half, but senior keeper Shannon Murphy made three outstanding saves to preserve the Saint Rose advantage. The most impressive was a dive to her right to deny Dennis from 10-yards out in the 55th minute.

The Lakers pressure finally paid dividends though when junior forward Jaleen Dingledine made a nifty play on the right side to knot it at 2-2. Dingledine made a run and then cut back to create space. She subsequently lofted a left-footed ball that floated into the upper far side corner in the 83rd minute that all but made an ensuing overtime session inevitable.

Murphy wound up with six saves, all after halftime, for Saint Rose; while freshman Chelsea Parise  made a save in each half for Grand Valley State.

Despite the loss, this will go down as yet another superlative year for Saint Rose. The Golden Knights came one victory shy of tying an NCAA Division II single-season record and also set a school standard with 18 shutouts. Saint Rose furthermore became only the third team in Northeast-10 Conference history (1985) to win three consecutive postseason league titles. The club also qualified for its seventh NCAA Tournament within the past eight years.

“This season has been nothing short of great. We have firmly established ourselves as one of the top programs in the country, we have a superlative group of players and we have a lot to be proud of,” said Darling Gutheil.

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