2007 ECAC Division III Women's Mid-Atlantic Field Hockey Championship

Preview 

First Round - November 7, 2007
(6) Stevens Tech 1, (3) Washington & Jefferson College 0 box score recap
(7) FDU-Florham 3, (2) Nazareth College 2 (OT) box score recap
(1) William Paterson 1, (8) Catholic University 0 box score recap
(4) Montclair State University 2, (5) Drew University 0 box score recap

Semifinals - November 10, 2007
(7) FDU-Florham 2, (6) Stevens Tech 1 Live Stats
(4) Montclair State 1, (1) William Paterson 0

Championship Game - November 11, 2007
(4) Montclair State 2, (7) FDU-Florham 1 box score

For the championship bracket, click here. 

Championship Game Recap

(Courtesy of Montclair State University Sports Information)

MONTCLAIR, NJ - Freshman Deana Hagel (Fairfield, NJ / West Essex) and sophomore Megan Walsh (Lumberton, NJ / Rancocas Valley) each scored goals as No. 4 seed Montclair State  edged No. 7 seed FDU-Florham, 2-1 to capture the ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Field Hockey Championship at Sprague Field on Sunday afternoon.

Senior defender Brisa Casas (Accord, NY / Rondout Valley) was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament as the Red Hawks claimed their fourth ECAC title to go along with crowns in 1990, 2001 and last year when MSU defeated Johns Hopkins, 3-2. Montclair became the first team to win back-to-back ECAC Championships since Wilkes University in 1993-94. The victory also helped Montclair State end the season at 15-6, the fifth time in the last seven years that MSU has won 15 or more contests in one season.

Sophomore forward Christy Barbetto (Hammonton, NJ / St. Joseph's-Hammonton) had a goal for the Devils, who closed out the year at 15-8 with their second runner-up finish in the tournament. FDU-Florham also finished second in 1988 losing to Union College, 1-0.

Scoreless through the first half, Montclair State put the first goal on the board at the 42:08 mark as Hagel collected her third goal of the season. Moving the ball from the right side, Hagel maneuvered her way across the circle before uncoiling a backhanded flip that flew into the right portion of the cage giving Montclair the 1-0 lead.  Walsh would extend the lead to 2-0 with 5:56 left in the game as she tapped in a pass from Rebecca Dobiesz (Old Bridge, NJ / Old Bridge) for her eighth of the season.

FDU-Florham did not go quietly however as the Devils struck back 2:02 later. Christina Fabian (Norwalk, CT/Norwalk) fed Barbetto along the right side with the latter knocking in the shot for her sixth of the season, trimming the Montclair State to 2-1 with 3:54 remaining. But that would be as close as FDU-Florham would get as Montclair pushed the ball down toward the Devils goal and then played the possession game for the final minute to secure the championship.

MSU goalkeeper Jacquie Supko (Moorestown, NJ / Moorestown) made three saves while counterpart Jamie SanFilippo (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) had four stops for FDU-Florham.

Each team had nine shots in the game with FDU-Florham holding a 10-4 advantage in penalty corners.

This was the second straight year that the two teams met in the ECAC Championship. Montclair opened the 2006 tournament with a 3-1 win at the Devils at Sprague Field. The victory on Sunday helped MSU pull within two games of evening the series between the teams as FDU-Florham leads 8-10-1.