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Championship Program
ALBANY – Two Hundred and fifty-eight NCAA Division II institutions opened preseason training in August. Three months later, only four are still playing and The College of Saint Rose is among that exclusive group for the fifth straight year.
The defending national champion Golden Knights aim to take the second from last step towards another national title this Thursday, November 29, with an 8:00 pm semifinal match versus second-ranked West Florida (22-1-0) at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, GA. Saint Rose (20-2-2), ranked #20 in the most recent
NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II Top-25 Poll, is making its 10th
NCAA Tournament appearance within an 11-year stretch. The Golden Knights are 20-8-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament contests.
Saint Rose advanced by virtue of a 4-1 National Quarterfinal triumph at West Chester, PA on Sunday, November 18. The Golden Knights scored three times in less than a five minute span in the first half to secure the victory. Four different Saint Rose student-athletes accounted for the four goals while junior keeper
Jessica Gerski made five of her six saves in the second half to secure the program's fifth straight East Regional title.
The Golden Knights and Argonauts have meant once before, at this same juncture in 2008 when West Florida prevailed 4-0 in Tampa. Thursday's winner will take on either UC San Diego (16-2-4) or Grand Valley State, MI (20-1-3) in Saturday's national championship match that is set to get underway at 3:00 pm.
Saint Rose, which generally has only one senior and three freshmen in its starting lineup, has come into its own as the postseason has unfolded. The Golden Knights have won 12 of their last 13 matches and have outscored their opponents 30-5 during that span.
From a broader perspective, Saint Rose has allowed only one first half goal, has outshot its opponents by a 468-188 margin and has manufactured more than three times as many as corner kicks (177) than it has yielded (55) throughout the season.
Junior forward
Carmelina Puopolo, the 2011 NSCAA National Player of the Year, leads the country with 57 points and 17 assists, while her 20 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 30 points on 13 goals and four assists.
Freshman midfielder
Amanda Vasquez, freshman forward
Kristin Carr, and sophomore forward
Brittany Barry, are also double-figure point producers. Vasquez has 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 helpers.
Between the posts, Gerski is third in the country with a 0.42 goals-against-average on the strength of seven shutouts. She also owns a 0.877 save percentage, the nation's 11th 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 Florida, the Argonauts have gotten of big boost from three junior college transfers in midfielders Shelby Bush, Chelsea Palmer, and Sashana Campbell.
Palmer leads UWF with 18 assists, the second highest single-season total in school annals, and 14 goals for 46 points. Bush paces the Argos with 15 goals to go with six assists for 36 points. Campbell leads UWF with seven game-winners among her 11 goals. She also has six assists for 28 points. Keeper Sarah Story, another junior college transfer, owns a 0.57 GAA.
Story, Bush and Campbell all played together at Darton CC last season and lost to Palmer and Tyler JC in the 2011 NJCAA national championship game.
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