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WEST CHESTER, PA – The College of Saint Rose aims to take another step towards a second consecutive national championship on Sunday, November 18, with a 12:00 pm quarterfinal match with host West Chester University (15-4-1). The Golden Knights (19-2-2), ranked #20 in the most recent
NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II Top-25 Poll, will be aiming for their fifth straight Championship Finals (national semifinals and final) appearance.
Overall, this marks the 10th NCAA Tournament appearance within an 11-year stretch for the Golden Knights. Saint Rose is 19-8-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament contests.
Saint Rose advanced by virtue of Friday's 1-0 NCAA East Regional Final victory against Dowling. Sophomore forward
Brittany Barry scored in the 62nd minute for what proved to be the game's lone strike.
The Golden Knights and Golden Rams have meant only once before, but it proved to be a thriller on this very site at the same point in the 2010 season. Saint Rose advanced 3-1 on penalty kicks as keeper Deanna Esposito made a pair of spectacular saves that allowed the Golden Knights to move on.
Saint Rose, which had only one senior and three freshmen in Friday's starting lineup, has started to come into its own as the postseason has unfolded. The Golden Knights have won 11 of their last 12 matches and have outscored their opponents 26-4 during that span. From a broader perspective, Saint Rose has allowed only one first half goal, has outshot its opponents by a 452-136 margin and has manufactured more than three times as many as corner kicks (172) than it has yielded (47) throughout the season.
Junior forward
Carmelina Puopolo, the 2011 NSCAA National Player of the Year, leads the country with 54 points and 16 assists, while her 19 goals are second only to Wingate (NC) sophomore midfielder Jade Montgomery's 21 strikes. Junior midfielder
Sydney Bond trails only Puopolo among the
Northeast-10 Conference leading point producers via 28 points on 12 goals and four assists.
Freshman midfielder
Amanda Vasquez and freshman forward
Kristin Carr, along with Barry, are also double-figure point producers. Vasquez is tied for the NE-10 lead with five game-winners among her eight strikes to go with four assists for 20 points. Carr has 17 points via six goals and five assists, while Barry has 14 points on six goals and a pair of assists.
Between the posts, junior keeper
Jessica Gerski is fourth in the country with a 0.40 goals-against-average on the strength of seven shutouts. She also owns a 0.879 save percentage, the nation's 10th best mark, thanks in part to a defensive unit that includes senior back
Molly Harpster, sophomore back
Jourdan Thompson, and junior back La'Quilla Upton.
Additionally, junior midfielder
Laura Taylor, and freshmen midfielders
Michaela Phillips and
Gianna Smith, have made outstanding contributions in initiating the squad's point of attack through the middle of the field.
As for West Chester, the Golden Rams moved on behind Friday's 1-0 triumph against visiting Slippery Rock in the Atlantic Regional Championship Final. They have outscored their opponents by a 48-14 margin on the year and defeated West Virginia Wesleyan in a second-round affair last Sunday, before upending Slippery Rock, to reach this point.
However, they dropped their two previous games entering the NCAA Tournament with a 2-1 defeat to visiting Slippery Rock in the Pennsylvania State Atlantic Conference (PSAC) semifinals and 1-0 loss at Millersville in their regular-season finale.
Senior midfielder Melissa McKeary leads five double-digit point producers with 26 points on team highs of 10 goals and six assists. Junior forward Marie D'Angelo, senior midfielder Jen Hutchinson, and sophomore forwards Ashley Saylor and Carly Yost are also legitimate scoring threats.
D'Angelo and Hutchinson have 17 and 15 points respectively. The former has six strikes and five helpers to her credit, while Hutchinson has recorded 15 points via five strikes and an assist. Finally, Saylor has five goals and four assists for 14 points. Yost rounds out the double-digit scorers with 11 points on five goals and an assist.
In goal, sophomore keeper Shannon Fedyk has logged all of the team's 1827 minutes throughout 20 contests. She owns a 0.60 GAA with 10 shutouts and a 0.823 save percentage.
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