Box Score

ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose women's soccer team took its first step towards a fifth consecutive Northeast-10 Conference title with a 4-0 victory against eighth-seed Adelphi University this afternoon at Sullivan Field. The Golden Knights received goals from four different players while chalking up their 12th shutout of the year. 

Top-seed Saint Rose will now host fifth-seed Stonehill College in a semifinal match this Friday. The Skyhawks (11-6-2) advanced with today's 3-2 road victory at fourth-seed Southern Connecticut State University. The Golden Knights blanked Stonehill 1-0 back on October 1 in Albany.

Saint Rose (17-1-1), ranked #15 in the latest NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II Poll that was released earlier today, controlled play throughout the majority of the contest and took a 3-0 lead at halftime. The Golden Knights put up two strikes in the final four minutes of the opening frame and then added another in the 75th minute for the final cushion.

Senior midfielders Christina Cuffari, Brittany Godin and Kimberly Morton all scored for Saint Rose as did sophomore forward Carmelina Puopolo.

Meanwhile, sophomore keeper Jessica Gerski and freshman netminder Lauren Minkoff kept the Panthers off the board for the sixth consecutive meeting between the two clubs. Gerski turned aside one shot in the first period, while Minkoff made a trio of diving saves throughout the second stanza.

The first marker of the contest developed rather slowly. The Golden Knights took a throw-in deep in their offensive third. Neither side was able to fully gain control when the ball was deflected to the feet of Godin, who promptly struck a chip that found the top right corner of the net with 33:34 gone by.

The next three strikes came to fruition thanks to some nifty ball control. Cuffari got it going by dribbling into space down the middle of the pitch and dishing off to Puopolo on her right. Puopolo tucked it inside the far post to put the finishing touches on her league-leading 13th goal of the year. Cuffari ran her school-record career assist total to 35 in the process.

Not to be outdone, Cuffari cleared two defenders and ripped a low drive into the right corner just 3:24 later. Morton then collected a centering pass from sophomore midfielder Allison Schmidt and stuffed it far post with a little more than 15 minutes remaining.

Saint Rose improved to 18-6-2 all-time in NE-10 Tournament contests following today's result. The Golden Knights are also in the midst of a 360-minute scoreless streak and are unbeaten in their last 13 (12-0-1) outings of conference tournament action.