Montclair, NJ…The College of New Jersey women's soccer team played Montclair State University even for 110 minutes of soccer on Friday night. Once the game finished in a scoreless tie and moved into penalty kicks to decide the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship, the Lions took over one claimed an automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Tournament on penalty kicks, 4-2.
 
TCNJ has now won seven of the last nine conference titles and even more impressive is they garnered its 23^rd straight bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 21^st-ranked Lions will enter that tournament with a 16-2-2 record, while the fifth-ranked Red Hawks are sure to claim an at-large bid after receiving their first blemish to their record at 18-0-1.
 
The announcement for the field of the 2013 NCAA Division III Tournament will be broadcast on www.ncaa.com on Monday, November 11 at 1:30 p.m.
 
In the shootout, the Red Hawks went first and missed on their opening chance, while TCNJ junior Jordan Downs (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) was successful. The Red Hawks tied the shootout at 1-1, but sophomore Shannon White Fairfield, NJ/West Essex) cashed in on her shot putting the visitors back in the lead.
 
A huge stop by Lion keeper Kendra Griffith (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West), teammate Lauren Giles (Deptford, NJ/Deptford) stepped to the stripe and got that goal right back for TCNJ.
 
Montclair State crept to within 3-2 with the Lions set for their fourth attempt and sophomore Taylor Lusardi (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) made sure the hosts didn't get another opportunity, burying the deciding kick and clinching the Lions the title.
 
During regulation, the Lions putting an early push on Montclair State in the first half with the hosts closing out the frame with a flourish. TCNJ held the Red Hawks without a shot until 18:47 had expired as Griffith stopped Francesca Gibson's shot. Griffith also came up big in the waning seconds of the period making two saves in the final 31 seconds.
 
The hosts had the best chance to get on the board in the early stages of the second half when Janae Geonnetti had her shot hit off of the crossbar just over 14 minutes into the new period.
 
The Lions countered that chance with one of their own as Downs had her shot blocked, which awarded a corner kick to TCNJ. Downs then took the ensuing corner only to have Montclair State weather the threat.
 
Downs then used her defensive skills to send the teams into overtime, blocking a sure goal by the Red Hawks with just under five minutes left in regulation.
 
In the first overtime, TCNJ had one shot with Christine Levering's (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) attempt going wide, while Griffith made a save on Montclair State's first and the defense blocked the second.
 
The second overtime saw some end-to-end action with Griffith making a save and Downs coming up again with a big defensive play, while at the other end Levering had a good chance that was stopped by Red Hawk goalie Gina Policastro setting the teams up for penalty kicks to determine the conference title.
 
Griffith finished the game with seven saves for the Lions.