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West Long Branch, NJ - To say that Kristen Skonieczny (Lagrangeville, NY / Arlington) backed up her MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year citation in No. 2 Manhattan's 3-1 win over No. 4 Rider would be the understatement of the year. The senior netminder made a career-high 15 saves to lead the Jaspers into Sunday's Championship match to played at 3:00 pm on ESPN3 against sixth seeded Siena at Hesse Field.
With the victory, the Jaspers improve to 11-4-3 while the defending MAAC Champion Broncs conclude their campaign with a 10-7-1 ledger.
Manhattan's first goal of the semifinal came in the 35th minute when junior Lizzy Carlson (Auburn, MA / Auburn) received a cross into the box from classmate Erica Modena (Massapequa, NY / Massapequa) getting the shot into the near post giving the Jaspers a 1-0 lead. In the 53rd minute, Carlson scored her second, and eventual game-winning score, off of a rebound after an Emma Saul (Fr., Orchard Park, NY / Orchard Park) shot was saved in extending the Manhattan advantage to 2-0.
Five minutes later, Modena sprinted down the left side of the field before blasting her team-leading 12th goal to give the Jaspers what would prove to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Rider would not go down without a fight as 2014 MAAC Player of the Year Tara Ballay scored her final collegiate goal to provide the final 3-1 ledger.
Carlson's two goals give her six on the year, including five of the game-winning variety, while Skonieczny improved to 10-3-3 on the year.
