For the first time in NEC history, Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Connecticut will meet in Northeast Conferenec Tournament Championship. #1 Fairleigh Dickinson and #3 Central Connecticut will face-off in the title game on Sunday. It marks the first time FDU will play for the NEC Crown, and CCSU's first trip back to the championship match since 2009. The match time is slated for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday at University Stadium. Watch all the action live on NEC Front Row.
Tournament Headquarters
Semifinal #1
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson 3, #4 Saint Francis U 1
Boxscore I Highlights
Teaneck, NJ -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women’s soccer team advanced to the Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship match for the first time in program history. The top-seeded Knights defeated No. 4 Saint Francis 3-1 Friday at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ.
The teams squared off on a brisk autumn day, and battled through much of the first half. A defensive stand from Saint Francis U held the top scoring offense in the league to just four shots in the first 40 minutes of action. In the 42nd minute, junior Katey Arathoon (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's) lit up the scoreboard, on a volleyed cross from 30 yards out that caromed in off the right post for the match's first goal. It was Arathoon's third marker of the season.
Coming out of the second half, both teams played with a sense of urgency, but despite several opportunities on both ends of the field, the Knights held a 1-0 lead through the 71st minute. On a breakaway, All-NEC first team defender Kasey Schiavoni (West Chester, PA/Villa Maria Academy) corralled a corner kick providing the Knights with another scoring opportunity. Esther Rochon (Saint Romuald, Quebec/College Francois-Xavier-Garneau) converted Schiavoni's corner kick from six yards out for the eventual match winner.
Less than four minutes later, the Red Flash answered. Saint Francis U was awarded a penalty kick for a foul by FDU junior defender Kayla Adams (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering) in the box. Red Flash All-NEC second team forward Mackenzie Walter (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) buried a penalty kick for her fifth goal of the season.
The Knights held a 2-1 advantage until sophomore Connie Lewis (Outer Cove, Newfoundland/Gonzaga) tapped home Carly Tice's (Highland Falls, N.Y./James I. O'Neill) shot that hit the crossbar in the 87th minute to seal Fairleigh Dickinson’s first appearance in the NEC Championship match in program history.
No.1 Fairleigh Dickinson will take on No. 3 Central Connecticut in the NEC Championship match Sunday, November 9 at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ. Kick-off is slated for 12:00 pm.
FDU Recap I SFU Recap
Semifinal #2
#3 Central Connecticut 2, #2 Wagner 1 (2 OT)
Boxscore I Highlights
Teaneck, NJ -- The Central Connecticut State women's soccer team advanced to the Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship for the ninth time in program history. The Blue Devils have won seven NEC Championship Titles. The third-seeded Blue Devils upset No. 2 Wagner Friday at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ.
The pair played in the second semifinal at University Stadium, in a battle for the final spot in the NEC Championship match. The winner would go on to play top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson, who defeated Saint Francis U 3-1 just one hour prior. The Blue Devils were the first to score in the 19th minute. NEC Player of the Year Tori Sousa (Nashua, NH/UMASS) scored on a picturesque goal in the upper right 90.
The Blue Devils held the Seahawks to one goal in the first half, but after the break, the first chance Wagner took, Johanna Konrad (Volkach, Germany/LSH) connected with Victoria Roda (Staten Island, NY/Petrides (Saint Leo’s)) for her seventh goal of the season. Roda’s cross found Konrad’s head to tie the match at 1-1 in the 53rd minute.
Central Connecticut took three shots in the remaining minutes of regulation, but after 90 minutes of actiom, the game went to overtime.
In the first overtime, only one shot was taken, but in the second, the Blue Devils sent a flurry of balls toward the Wagner Goalkeeper, Katie Marcy (Bellmore, NY/John F. Kennedy). Central Connecticut took six shots in just under six minutes, and Sousa collected the Golden Goal in the 105th minute, clinching the Blue Devils ninth trip to the NEC Championship match.
No.1 Fairleigh Dickinson will take on No. 3 Central Connecticut in the NEC Championship match Sunday, November 9 at University Stadium in Teaneck, NJ. Kick-off is slated for 12:00 pm.
CCSU Recap I WC Recap