Semifinals - Saturday, November 11
No. 1 Manhattanville 2,  No. 4 St. Joseph's 0
No. 2 Farmingdale State 2, No. 3 Rutgers-Camden 1

Championship - Sunday, November 12
Manhattanville 2,  Farmingdale State 0

Valiants Capture ECAC Championship
 
November 12, 2006 - The No.1 Manhattanville Valiants captured the ECAC Metro Region Championship for the first time in the school's history by defeating the No. 2 Farmingdale Rams 2-0 today. Freshman Kathryn Moore (Pearl River, N.Y.) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after scoring a goal and assisting on two others.

After defeating the St. Joseph Golden Eagles yesterday, Manhattanville advanced to face the Farmingdale Rams. Farmingdale advanced to the finals by defeating Rutgers-Camden 2-1 yesterday.

"I thought we played very well today," head coach Matt Paton said. "The first half we set the tone and scored two great goals and really showed that we wanted to be the ECAC Champions."

In today's contest Manhattanville dominated the game from the very beginning. Half way through the first half the Valiants were awarded a free kick 10 yards outside the penalty box. Moore, who scored from this exact spot yesterday, stepped up and placed a perfect ball to the far corner where senior Sarah Kinsley (Pearl River, N.Y.) was able to get a head on it and put it past the Farmingdale goalie but a defender was on the line to clear it away.

Just seconds later in a repeat performance, Moore placed a similar ball that foundKinsley's head except this team she found a wide open Bailey Flood (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) who buried the shot to the far corner for her eight goal of the season, giving Manhattanville the lead.

The Valiants weren't done as a minute later Kinsley would dribble down the left flank and get a cross to the top of the box where freshman Elizabeth Olsen (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) was there to fire home her third goal of the season.

"I think we played really well as a team today because we all knew it was our last weekend to play together," Moore said. "We are never going to be the same team again because we are losing four crucial seniors."

Farmingdale had a few opportunities to break through but the Manhattanville defense shut them down. Senior Michele Ribeiro (West Hartford, Conn.) made three saves in the contest recording her season high twelfth shutout of the season. Ribeiro's counterpart finished the game with seven saves.

"It was a nice way to end the season," Ribeiro said. "We worked harder today then we have all year and we got the win that we deserved."

The Valiants finish their season at 14-5-3, the most wins in school history.

Manhattanville out-shot the Rams 16-7 and held the advantage on corner kicks 3-0.

Moore earned the MVP award after tallying her first goal of the season and an assist in yesterday's game and adding an assist in today's game.

"I could not have done it without the rest of my team because soccer is not a one person sport," Moore said. "It's a team sport and you need everyone on the field to work hard and work together to be successful."

Manhattanville will lose four seniors to graduation, goalkeeper Ribiero, forward Kinsley, midfielder Janelle Forster (West Islip, N.Y.) and defender Erica Cisek (Islip, N.Y.).

"Overall, we had a tremendous season," Paton added. "Obviously, we lose some key players to graduation but we have a great core to build on for next year."

Farmingdale eliminates Rutgers-Camden
in ECAC Metro women's soccer semifinals

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. - Freshman forward Renee Schondebare (Selden, NY/Newfield) scored off the rebound of a saved shot with 1:12 remaining to lift second-seeded Farmingdale State University to a 2-1 victory over #3 seed Rutgers University-Camden in the ECAC Division III Women's Metro Soccer Championship semifinals here Saturday.

The Rams, 10-7-2, advance to the ECAC Metro Championship game, where they will play at top-seeded Manhattanville College Sunday at 1 p.m. Manhattanville blanked No. 4 St. Joseph's-Patchogue, 2-0, in Saturday's other semifinal.

Rutgers-Camden closes its season at 10-9-1.

With time winding down in regulation, the Rams' freshman midfielder Christina Cascio (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) took a shot from the top of the box that was blocked by Raptor junior goalie Kristen Cargen (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East). Schondebare knocked in the rebound to break the 1-1 tie, giving the Rams their fifth win in six games.

Rutgers-Camden, playing its first game since Oct. 25, scored its lone goal at 18:40. Freshman midfielder Tina Mascia (Deptford, NJ/Washington Township) made a run up the middle and deflected a shot off the post for her third goal of the season.

Farmingdale State tied the game at 62:59 when freshman midfielder Tricia Pickford (Massapequa Park, NY/Massapequa) hit a shot from the right side that produced the equalizer.

The Rams held a 13-12 edge in shots and the Raptors had a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Cargen made five saves for Rutgers-Camden, while freshman Kimberly Sontag (Lynbrook, NY/Lynbrook) had four saves for Farmingdale.

PURCHASE, N.Y. - The No.1 Manhattanville Valiants advanced to the ECAC Metro Region Championship by defeating the No.4 St. Joseph Golden Eagles 2-0 today.  Sophomore Dawn Belonick (Terryville, Conn.) and freshman Kathryn Moore (Pearl River, N.Y.) each notched goals to led the Valiants.  Manhattanville advances to the finals for the first time in the school's history.

The Valiants improve to 13-5-3 while St. Joseph ends their season at 8-8-1.

After an evenly played twenty minutes, the Valiants were awarded their first corner kick and they made it count.  Moore placed a perfect ball just inside the 18-yard box where Belonick was able to get a head on it and put it past the Golden Eagles goalie Taylor Carroll (Islip, N.Y.) to get Manhattanville on the board.

As St. Joseph began to tire in the second half the Valiants were able to take advantage.  At the sixty-minute mark, St. Joseph was called for a foul about ten yards outside the penalty box.  Moore stepped up and placed another perfect ball just out of the reach of Carroll to give Manhattanville the 2-0 lead.

"Its great for the program and more importantly for this team to advance to the championship game," head coach Matt Paton said.  "We did what we had to do today to advance.  We scored two great goals."

The Valiants had opportunities to add to the lead when Moore would find Belonick again on a corner kick but a St. Joseph defender was there to clear it away.

Manhattanville out-shot the Golden Eagles 8-7 and held the advantage on corner kicks 5-1.

Manhattanville senior goalie Michele Ribeiro (West Hartford, Conn.) made four saves to earn the victory.  Her counterpart Carroll would stop three shots.

Manhattanville advances to the final tomorrow against the winner of the Farmingdale/Rutgers-Camden game at 1 p.m. at Govaliants.com field.