ALBANY – Two teams that have won 84.6 percent of their games collectively throughout the past four years and have accounted for the last 10 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament championships will meet again Friday with the NCAA Tournament East Regional title on the line.
The College of Saint Rose (22-0-0), ranked #2 in the final
NSCAA/Adidas Division Poll, will host #20 Franklin Pierce (18-4-1) on the campus of Siena College in Loudonville. Kickoff is set for 11:00 am with the Atlantic Regional Championship match between Indiana, PA (14-6-2) and California, PA (18-5-1) to follow. The winners will meet at 1:00 pm Sunday in a national quarterfinal game.
Friday will mark the third meeting of the year between Saint Rose and Franklin Pierce. The Golden Knights upended the Ravens 2-1 in the NE-10 Championship game on November 8 to capture their third straight league title. Saint Rose also came away victorious in the lone regular-season matchup with a 2-0 triumph in Albany back on October 10.
Saint Rose got to this point with last Sunday’s 2-1 NCAA second round win versus Merrimack. Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce advanced with a 4-1 defeat at host Bridgeport on Sunday.
Saint Rose possesses a balanced attack coupled with a superlative defensive corps. Eighteen different players have figured in the scoring column, including 14 who have recorded at least one goal. Junior midfielder
Amanda Deck has produced a team-leading 23 points with eight goals and seven assists. Sophomore forwards
Gianna D’Errico and
Nicola D’Errico follow with 15 and 14 points respectively. Gianna D’Errico has five goals and a like number of assists, while her twin sister Nicola D’Errico has five goals and four helpers to her credit.
Junior backs
Katie Whiting,
Kelly Guerin and
Coco Ebersole anchor a defense, along with freshman
Meagan McKinney, that leads the NE-10 and is second in the nation with a 0.27 goals-against-average. Saint Rose has allowed a mere six goals all season, none in the first half.
Conversely, Franklin Pierce features the nation’s seventh highest scoring offense with an impressive 185 points via 73 goals and 39 assists. Senior midfielder and two-time NE-10 Player of the Year Gabriela Demoner and junior forward Angelika Johansson stand atop the conference’s scoring parade. Demoner has registered 32 goals and eight assists for 72 points, while Johansson has 43 points behind 20 strikes and three assists.
Saint Rose is 7-6-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament contests. A year ago, the Golden Knights won the East Regional title with a 4-0 triumph at none other than Franklin Pierce. That victory helped solidify the program’s first-ever national semifinal appearance.
Tickets for Friday’s games are $7 for general admission, $3 for college students (with ID) and senior citizens, and $2 for children ages 2-12. Tickets may be purchased at the gate.
Saint Rose is also sponsoring an audio webcast of the game.
NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket;
Listen to Webcast;
NCAA Championship Central