COLONIE, N.Y. – The College of Saint Rose manufactured a familiar performance in an unusual setting by upending Molloy 4-1 today inside Afrim's Sports Park to claim the 2019 NCAA Championship East Region Title. Last weekend's record snowfall in the Capital Region forced the game to be moved from the Plumeri Sports Complex with the full backing of the NCAA.
Looking ahead, the 11th ranked Golden Knights (20-2-1) will now meet sixth-ranked Bloomsburg (18-2-1) in Sunday's National Quarterfinal at Afrim's. Kick-off is at 1:00 pm. The Huskies scored with less than six minutes remaining to claim their second consecutive Atlantic Region championship behind a 2-1 win versus West Chester in today's first game.
Not to be outdone, Saint Rose scored three times within a 22-minute stretch late in the opening stanza to put itself in the driver's seat. Senior forward
Nina Predanic, the 2019 Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year and a CoSIDA Academic All-American®, had a goal and set up two others to lead the offense. Freshman forward
Olivia Boucher, sophomore forward
Kaelyn Britt, and senior forward
Caitlyn Dabagian accounted for the other three strikes. Senior keeper
Marika Laurendeau made four of her five saves after halftime to keep Molloy (15-5-3) in check.
Overall, Saint Rose generated a 23-10 shot advantage, including 15-4 in on-target drives.
Predanic made it 1-0 Golden Knights at the 9:22 mark with her 20th goal of the year to validate a strong Golden Knights start. However, the Lions (15-5-3) countered a mere 22 seconds later to fill the tight confines of the indoor bubble with a bit of mystery. Junior midfielder Dana Poetzsch lined a shot from 15-yards out on the right flank into the far-top corner to level the affair 1-1 with her 24th goal of year.
Saint Rose kept its composure and applied pressure with some great spacing in the attacking third that yielded multiple threats that paid off as intermission drew nearer. Boucher touched in a deflection that Predanic initiated with 20:54 elapsed, Dabagian redirected a Predanic feed at the 33:06 mark, and less than ten minutes later Britt drove home her own rebound from deep inside the area after Molloy junior keeper Jackie Carty stopped the initial drive.
Carty was forced to be on her toes all afternoon as she wound up with 11 saves.
Notes: The Golden Knights have now won 20 games for the eighth time in a 12-year span, and for the first time since their 2014 national semifinal run…Predanic today became only the second player in school annals to record 20 goals in a season, the other being former National Player of the Year Carmelina Puopolo ('14) who twice pulled off the feat…She, along with Puopolo and Christina Cuffari ('11), are also the lone players to register 15 assists in a season…She continues to be among the top-10 nationally in goals (20), points (55), and assists (15)…She is also second with nine game-winning goals…Predanic and senior midfielder
Morgan Burchhardt have accumulated 135 and 110 career points respectively…Saint Rose is the nation's lone squad with a pair of 100 point scorers…Burchhardt is in fifth place on the all-time point production list, three short of moving past Eliza Whipple ('03) into fourth…The country's active career assists leader, Burchhardt is one shy of tying Puopolo's school record of 53…Predanic is one of a mere 13 active players in the country with 30 goals and 20 assists…Burchhardt is a goal shy of becoming the 14th…Laurendeau now has 49-wins between the posts, second only to Jessica Gerski who registered 62 from 2011-13…The Golden Knights have outscored their foes 66-20 on the year, including 37-8 in the first half…They entered this afternoon 11th in the country in scoring with 2.82 goals per game…Saint Rose also owned the nation's seventh best winning percentage.
Golden Knights in the NCAA Championship Tournament: This year marks the 15th time in 18 years that the Golden Knights have been afforded the opportunity to contend for the NCAA Division II National Championship…Today represented the College's 11th regional championship appearance…Saint Rose is now 27-11-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament contests…The Golden Knights have made six national semifinal appearances (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014) within the past 12 years, and of course captured the 2011 National Championship.
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