Amherst, Mass. - Megan Lannigan '15 broke a scoreless deadlock in the 47th minute, lifting Misericordia to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Farmingdale State College in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament hosted by Amherst College.
Securing their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, the Cougars improved to 14-4-2 overall and will face the Lord Jeffs in a second round matchup scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13. Making their fifth-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Rams closed out the year with a 15-4-3 record.
Scoreless after the first half, Misericordia wasted no time getting on the board in the second, breaking through just 1:28 into the stanza. Making a run down the right side, Laura Roney '13 played a cross into the box finding Lannigan who ripped a hard shot off the hands of goalkeeper Amanda Maass '12 and into the Ram net.
Farmingdale responded by pushing forward in the 54th minute, nearly knotting the game on junior Jamie Smith's shot that rattled off the crossbar at 53:07.
With each team recording five shots over the next 33:44, Farmingdale still found itself down one with just over two minutes to play. Moving into the attacking third, Katrina Cerverizzo '12 ripped a shot that prompted a Caitlin Sweeney '13 save at 87:56 before Smith fired a shot wide left at 89:09.
With the clock winding down, the Rams played a cross to Christina Merrill '13 in front of the Cougar net, but Sweeney made a game-saving stop on a shot from point-blank range with just seven ticks left to preserve the Misericordia win.
Farmingdale finished with a 15-12 advantage in shots, with both teams earning three corners. Sweeney collected six saves in the win while Maass made four stops.
* Story by Ben Badua of Amherst College
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