BOX SCORE LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 8, 2013) – After 80 scoreless minutes, Saint Francis U senior
Tesa McKibben (Cogan Station, Pa./Montoursville) dribbled through traffic and let a well-placed shot fly to give the Red Flash its first lead in Friday's Northeast Conference Semifinal match against Central Connecticut.
The goal – the newly-minted four-time NEC Player of the Year's 19th of the season – opened the offensive floodgates as the Flash bested the Blue Devils, 3-1, at a wintery Stokes Soccerplex. The victory not only secured a berth in Sunday's title game, but also gave 10th-year head coach
Brenda van Stralen her 100th career win.
It took less than three minutes for
Barbara Maros de Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Sagrado Coraco de Jesus) to find the net, with assists from McKibben and Eloa Nascimento, to push the Flash lead to 2-0 and 30 seconds more for CCSU's Christina Boucher to make the score 2-1.
But the Saint Francis defense, behind the inspired play of center back
Alecia McNiff (Marietta, Pa./Donegal ), held to firm to make Maros de Carvalho's score stand up as the game-winner.
Brittany Hasson (Leola, Pa./Warwick) iced the game in the 88th minute with her first goal of the season. McKibben picked up an assist on the tally to secure her nation-leading 52nd point of 2013.
The Red Flash will now face LIU Brooklyn for the fourth consecutive season with an NCAA Women's College Cup berth on the line. The Blackbirds, who are 2-1 against Saint Francis in title games, defeated second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson, 2-1, in double-OT in the day's second match.
Kickoff for Sunday's match in Loretto is slated for noon. SFU defeated the Blackbirds, 2-0, on Oct. 4 in Brooklyn.
The Red Flash out-shot the Blue Devils 24-to-17 on the afternoon and racked up a commanding 12-to-2 edge in corner kicks. McKibben fired a game-high seven shots.
SFU rookie goalkeeper
Abbey Collins (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) finished with a career-high 11 saves in 90 minutes of action. Her counterpart, Nikola Deiter, made stops on 12 of SFU's 15 shots on goal.
