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Lake Buena Vista, FL - MAAC Offensive Player of the Year senior
Erica Modena (Massapequa, NY / Massapequa) and sophomore
Arianna Montefusco (Levittown, NY / General Douglas MacArthur) combined for all three goals while junior
Kelly DiGregorio (Centereach, NY / St. Anthony's) made some huge saves in the final minutes to lift No. 2 Manhattan to a 3-2 win over No. 3 Quinnipiac in semifinals of the 2017 MAAC Women's Soccer Championship.
The Jaspers will next play top-seeded Monmouth for the MAAC Championship and a berth in the 2017 NCAA Championships on Wednesday, November 1 at 12:00 pm.
Manhattan quickly opened the scoring in the third minute as Modena stole an errant pass and streaked down the field, firing the ball into the left corner of the goal.
In the 10th minute, the Jaspers extended their lead to 2-0 when junior
Emma Saul (Orchard Park, NY / Orchard Park) delivered a cross into the box and Montefusco blasted it home.
Modena then fed a pass through three defenders to Montefusco, who easily finished from six yards out in extending the lead out to 3-0 in the 26th minute.
Down but not out, Quinnipiac quickly answered in the 34th minute and appeared poised to further trim the deficit in the 52nd when Nadya Gill stepped to the line for a penalty kick. However, DiGregorio made a sprawling save on the All-MAAC First Team selection's shot to the lower left corner. The Bobcats would eventually slice the deficit to 3-2 in the 72nd minute on a Madison Borowiec goal.
Quinnipiac would continue to press and appeared poised to break through in the 89th minute when Gill shook a defender and fired a shot 18 yards outside of the box only to be denied by a diving DiGregorio, who punched the ball away to prevent the equalizer.
DiGregorio, who missed the first match-up with Quinnipiac, finished with seven huge saves in picking up the win while Montefusco, who also didn't play against the Bobcats this season, finished with two goals.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Manhattan, which improves to 10-6-3, reached double-figures in wins for the second time in three years and just the fourth time in school history.
- The Jaspers 38 goals are third in school history, trailing just the 1993 (53) and 2006 (42) teams.
- Modena now has 34 career goals and 82 career points, both of which rank second in school history behind
Emily Rogic's 'school-record totals of 40 goals and 95 points, set between 1993-1996.
- Modena has six career goals and three assists over six career MAAC Tournament games.
- Modena, Montefusco and Saul have combined for 24 of the Jaspers' 38 goals and 19 of their 28 assists.
- The trio had a hand in all four goals against the Bobcats this year:
Modena (1 goal, 2 assists) | Montefusco (2 goals) | Saul (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Head Coach
Brendan Lawler is now 27-21-7 over the last three years, including 19-9-6 against MAAC opposition after going 27-57-7 over his first five seasons, including 12-31-5 against MAAC teams.
- Manhattan leads the all-time series with Quinnipiac by a 5-3-1 count, including owning a perfect 2-0-0 mark in MAAC Championship play.
- All seven matches between the teams since the Bobcats entered the MAAC in 2013 have been decided by one goal or less.
- Modena has three goals and two assists over six career matches against Quinnipiac.
- Manhattan is now 27-0-2 - including winning 17 straight at one point - when finding the back of the net first since dropping a 2-1 decision to Monmouth on October 8, 2014.
- The Jaspers will look to avenge a 2-1 loss to Monmouth earlier in the year while defeating the Hawks for the first time in program history (0-7-0).
MAAC Tournament Records:
- Manhattan: 6-6-2
- Lawler: 4-1-1
- In Florida: 5-2-2
