Box Score
Montclair, NJ...Senior defender Ashleigh Pecherski (Middletown, NJ / Middletown) scored the decisive goal with 9:44 remaining in the game as The College of New Jersey handed off 13 th -ranked Montclair State its first loss in 17 games as the Lions posted a 3-2 victory in an NCAA Division III Field Hockey Top 20 battle at Sprague Field on Tuesday evening.
Leigh Mitchell (Mount Laurel, NJ / Lenape) and Sheri Grondski (Mercerville, NJ / Nottingham) each scored as the Lions ended Montclair's best start in school history. New Jersey improved to 6-1 overall with their fourth consecutive win and 1-0 in the NJAC.
Rebecca Dobiesz (Old Bridge, NJ / Old Bridge) and Megan Walsh (Lumberton, NJ / Rancocas Valley) had a goal apiece for the Red Hawks, who fell to 8-1 on the season with their first loss since October 14, 2006. MSU, now 1-1 in NJAC, won its final eight games in capturing the ECAC Mid-Atlantic Championship last year.
TCNJ, which had won 52 of the 63 previous meetings in the series, also notched their first win at Sprague Field after three consecutive one-goal losses to Montclair State in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
Mitchell gave the Lions a 1-0 lead 9:01 into the contest as she scored her third of the season on an unassisted tally. Montclair would answer back at the 26:53 mark as Megan Pietrunti (Middletown, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) put a shot on goal that was blocked. The ball bounced out to Walsh who tapped in the rebound for her sixth of the season as the teams were tied at 1-1 heading into halftime.
In the second half, Montclair State would take the lead 6:06 into the period. Off a penalty corner, Pietrunti got off two shots that TCNJ goalkeeper Caitlin Gregory (Winslow, NJ / Eastern) stopped. However, Dobiesz was there to pick up the loose ball and smack in a shot for her fifth of the season and a 2-1 MSU lead. Grondski would knot the game back up at 55:26 as she collected her first of the year.
Pecherski would give the Lions the lead for good 4:24 later as Grondski got off a shot on from a penalty corner that was saved, but Pecherski was in the right place at the right time and knocked in a shot for her fifth of the season and the game-winning tally. Jackie Gelinas (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) assisted on the goal, her second of the game.
Gregory finished with three saves for New Jersey, which outshot Montclair, 17-7 in the game and had 12 penalty corners to the Red Hawks' eight.
Jacquie Supko (Moorestown, NJ / Moorestown) made six saves for Montclair State.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, September 29 with home contests. Montclair State will host Widener University at 1 p.m. while TCNJ is at Lions' Stadium for a 3 p.m. matchup with Manhattanville College.
