No stranger to the Northeast Conference Tournament Championship, #1 Saint Francis U and #3 LIU Brooklyn will face-off for the fourth consecutive season on Championship Sunday. The Blackbirds have won back-to-back titles and last season took the crown as the #3 seed. The match time is slated for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday on DeGol Field. Watch all the action live on NEC Front Row.
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Semifinal #1
#1 Saint Francis U 3, #4 Central Connecticut 1
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Loretto, PA -- Four-time NEC Player of the Year Tesa McKibben (Cogan Station, PA/Montoursville) scored four points as top-seeded Saint Francis U defeated #4 Central Connecticut state en route to its fourth consecutive NEC Championship final in as many years.
McKibben broke an eighty-minute scoring draught, scoring the first goal of the contest on a run through a tight Blue Devil offense. Less than three minutes later, senior Barbara Maros de Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Sagrado Coraco de Jesus) tapped in a deflected shot, giving Saint Francis U a 2-0 lead with under 10 minutes to play. McKibben got her first assist.
In the 85th minute, Christina Boucher (Cromwell, CT/Cromwell) put Central Connecticut on the board, but Brittany Hasson (Leola, Pa./Warwick) iced the game in the 88th minute with her first goal of the season. McKibben picked up an assist on the tally to secure her nation-leading 52nd point of 2013.
Nikola Deiter (South Park, PA/Souther Park) made 12 saves for Central Connecticut, freshman goal keeper Abbey Collins (Centerville, OH/Centerville) made 11 saves for the Red Flash.
Saint Francis U takes on LIU Brooklyn in the NEC Championship match for the fourth straight season on Sunday, Nov. 10 at the Stokes Soccerplex in Loretto, PA. Kick-off is slated for 12:00 p.m.
Semifinal #2
#3 Long Island 2, #2 Fairleigh Dickinson 1
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Loretto, PA -- After an early goal, third-seeded LIU Brooklyn outlasted #2 Fairleigh Dickinson in dramatic fashion to advance to the NEC Women's Soccer Championship final on Sunday for the fourth consecutive season.
NEC Rookie of the Year Jenn Peters (Slate Hill, NY/Minisink, NY) put the Blackbirds on the board in the first half but Shino Kunisawa (Kochi, Japan/Laramie (WY) County Community College) kept the Blackbirds alive, scoring the game-winning, golden goal in double-overtime.
The score remained 1-0 after Peters goal in the 25 minutes. Play was a back and forth tilt for 54 minutes. Farileigh Dickinson knotted the contest thanks to Amanda Goulet (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada/Shattuck-St. Mary's School) navigating through a bustle of Blackbirds and beating LIU goal keeper Jessica Sexton (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) in the 79th minute of action.
The Blackbirds held strong as FDU made an offensive attack towards the end of the of the first overtime. Kunisawa scored the golden goal with less than three minutes left in double overtime. Kunisawa drilled a low line drive into the lower-left corner of the goal to give LIU a 2-1 victory.
LIU's Brooklyn's Jessica Sexton (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) made six saves while Fairleigh Dickinson's Sage DoVale (Lilburn, GA/Collins Hill) made four saves each during the match.
The Blackbirds will now attempt to win their fourth NEC Championship Title when they face the top-seeded Saint Francis U in Sunday’s championship match at Stokes Soccerplex in Loretto, PA. Game time is set for 12:00 p.m.