Women's Lacrosse Wins Skyline Conference Regular-Season Crown

Montclair, NJ (4/28/08) – Senior midfielder Bethany Blaine (Moorestown, NJ / Moorestown) scored seven times and also added an assist as Montclair State tallied six of the final seven goals to capture the Skyline Conference regular-season championship with a 16-10 victory over Mount St. Vincent at a soggy Sprague Field on Monday evening.

Junior Marykate DiBenedetto ( Cinnaminson, NJ / Cinnaminson) added three goals as the Red Hawks finished unbeaten in Skyline play for the third straight season while evening their record at 7-7. MSU also grabbed the top seed in the league tournament, which gets underway on Wednesday, April 30. Montclair, the two-time defending champion, will host Farmingdale State at Sprague Field beginning at 4:00 pm. The Red Hawks downed the Rams, 19-4 at Sprague Field back on March 31.

Sophomore Kelly Martin ( Stony Point, NY / North Rockland) had three goals while Katie Tucci ( Baldwinsville, NY/Baker) and Cyndi Adams ( Mechanicsville, MD/Chopticon) added two for the Dolphins, who fell to 7-8 overall while finishing its Skyline slate at 3-2. Mount St. Vincent will travel to Kean University in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

Montclair State led by as many as four late in the first half before Adams and Jessie Mitchell (Suffern, NY / Suffern) scored inside the final 30 seconds to trim the lead to 7-5 at halftime. In the second half, Mt. St. Vincent would get within a goal three times, the last coming with 10:18 left as Lauren Perla (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) scored unassisted to bring CMSV within 10-9.

But Jamie Hudacko ( Montville, NJ / Montville) scored 24 seconds later to ignite a five-goal run by the Red Hawks. DiBenedetto extended the lead to 12-9 as she intercepted a clearing pass in front of the goal and scored with 7:44 left, and Jennifer Tanis (Oak Ridge, NJ / Jefferson) tallied just over a minute later rifling a shot into the upper right corner to give the Red Hawks a four-goal advantage. DiBenedetto scored again with 4:39 remaining and Blaine’s final goal with 3:54 gave MSU a 15-9 lead. Martin would get one back for the Dolphins, but Morgan MacPhee ( Toms River, NJ / Toms River East) fed Hudacko five yards in front for the final goal.

Goalkeeper Talia Katz (Lower Merion, PA / Lower Merion) made five saves for the Red Hawks while Jackie Horn ( Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) made six for the Dolphins.

Hudacko had two goals and two assists with Lauren Adams (Jackson, NJ / Jackson) scoring twice for Montclair State, which outshot Mt. St. Vincent, 36-17 in the game. Blaine added four ground balls and two draws while Cristin Bentz ( Marlton, NJ / Cherokee) posted five draws and three caused turnovers. Tanis registered four draws as Montclair held the edge in that statistic, 17-11.

Mitchell had three draws and two ground balls for Mt. St. Vincent while Alexis Alessi ( Rockville Centre, NY/ Oceanside) won three draws. Kim Freaso (Setauket, NY / Ward Melville) recorded a team-best four ground balls with Erin Woerner (Kings Park, NY / Kings Park) added in three ground balls and two caused turnovers.

Article Created:
April 28 2008
Article Last Edited:
April 28 2008