Box Score
PENSACOLA, FL – The College of Saint Rose propelled itself into the NCAA Division II national championship game after coming up just short the three previous years with a 2-0 victory against Armstrong Atlantic State at Brosnaham Park tonight.
The 10th ranked Golden Knights (23-1-1) will now meet two-time defending national champion Grand Valley State, MI (20-0-4) in Saturday's title tilt at 1:30 pm. The Lakers advanced via penalty kicks over Cal State Chico (13-6-6) after the two squads played to a 1-1 draw following 110 minutes of soccer.
“Obviously we are very ecstatic with the result. The girls played incredibly. Our attacking abilities were superb,” said Saint Rose head coach
Laurie Darling Gutheil. “It was a very hard fought game. I felt very confident that our strikers could be explosive and effective, and that was reflected on the field.”
Indeed it was. Saint Rose jumped out to a 1-0 lead with just seven minutes gone by when sophomore forward
Carmelina Puopolo bent a corner from the right flag inside the far post. Twenty-three minutes later, senior midfielder Gianna D'Errico slipped home a feed up the middle of the area from freshman forward
Brittany Barry to make it 2-0 Golden Knights.
Saint Rose had a chance to it put away in the final minute of the first half when the Pirates where whistled for a handball in the box. However, senior midfielder
Christina Cuffari sailed her PK attempt just wide right.
The first half was played very evenly, but the Golden Knights took advantage of their lead to control the pace and defend their turf throughout the second period. Saint Rose manufactured a slim 15-13 advantage in shots, but developed an 8-4 lead in that category during the opening 45 minutes. The Golden Knights also generated 10 corners, while yielding only three throughout the game.
Sophomore keeper
Jessica Gerski made four spectacular second half saves to keep the Pirates (18-3-3) ff the board and the Golden Knights in control. She set the tone in the opening 17 minutes when she twice turned aside Armstrong Atlantic sophomore midfielder Andye Dawson within a nine minute span. Gerski wound up with five saves for the game, while freshman Maggie Carson recorded three saves for the Pirates.
“It was a tale of two halves. Saint Rose was a very good team. Being here for the first time, we seemed a little jittery in the first half. “It was a fantastic season. We grew from last year, and hopefully we will grow from this experience. Saint Rose finished their chances, and we didn't.,” said Armstrong Atlantic head coach Eric Faulconer.
NOTES: Saint Rose has now outscored its last 11 opponents by a 35-3 margin since its lone defeat this season, a 3-0 setback at Merrimack back on October 15. The Golden Knights have since defeated the Warriors 5-1 in the
Northeast-10 Conference Championship game and 5-0 in an NCAA Tournament second-round match… They have furthermore outscored their opponents by a 21-2 differential throughout seven postseason contests, and by an 88-9 margin when displacing their lone loss this autumn…Puopolo now has nine game-winning-goals on the year…A victory Saturday would mark the first team national championship in Saint Rose annals…The Golden Knights have now won a school record 23 games in each of the past three seasons during which they have posted a collective 69-3-2 record (.946)…Puopolo and Cuffari were named Daktronics first-team All-Americans earlier today…Junior back
Meagan McKinney and sophomore midfielder
Sydney Bond both garnered third-team accolades.
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