Box Score
Ewing, NJ... The College of New Jersey women's soccer team scored a goal in each half as the Lions repeated as New Jersey Athletic Conference champions with a 2-0 victory over visiting William Paterson on Saturday.
With the win, the Lions (16-2-1) also earned the NJAC's automatic bid into the 2010 NCAA Division III Tournament. It will mark the 20th straight appearance in the national tournament by TCNJ. The tournament field will be announced live on ncaa.com on Monday at 9 a.m.
The NJAC title was TCNJ's fifth in the last six years and its 14th overall since the conference began play in 1994.
It was the Pioneers who nearly got on the board first as defender Ally Ruddy (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) placed a corner kick into the TCNJ penalty area that Jessica Francisco (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) got off a solid shot. Francisco's shot was destined for the far corner, but Lion midfielder Amy Van Dyk (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) blocked the shot keeping the game scoreless less than five minutes into the contest.
The Lions then broke the scoreless tie with 20:13 left in the half as junior Brittany McGinley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) shrugged off a pair of Pioneer defenders to create a shooting lane and rifled a shot into the upper corner of the net. The goal was her fifth of the season and her third in the three games.
William Paterson came within inches of getting that goal right back less than two minutes later as Michelle Marabondo (Kenvil, NJ/Roxbury) intercepted a TCNJ pass deep in Lion territory and laced a shot on goal. Lion keeper Kendra Griffith (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) made a leaping save as she got just enough of the shot as it deflected off of the cross bar before being cleared out of the penalty area.
In the second half, the Lions tacked on an insurance goal as junior Annie McCarthy (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) crashed the net on a perfectly placed corner kick by sophomore Allyson Anderson (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant) and headed the ball in for a 2-0. That goal was McCarthy's third of the season.
Anderson almost made it three-goal difference in the final 11 minutes ringing a hard shot off of the near post.
Griffith made six saves for her 11th shutout of the season.
Pioneer goalie Alyssa Falduto (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) finished with seven saves for the Pioneers.
William Paterson finished the season 11-4-5 and await the announcement of the tournament field hoping for an at-large bid.
