Rams Fall to No. 1 Messiah in NCAA's
No. 1 Messiah - 6, Farmingdale State - 1
Grantham, Pa. - The Farmingdale State women's
soccer team fell to No. 1 Messiah College (20-0-1) in the first
round of the Division III NCAA Tournament on Saturday night in
Grantham, Pa. The Rams, who end the season with a 15-5-3 record,
scored the programs first-ever NCAA goal against the top-ranked
Falcons, while also halting their six game shutout streak.
Messiah scored just 99 seconds into the contest, tacking on another
goal six minutes later to help cruise to a 6-1 win - the
program’s 14th straight win this season and sixth consecutive
in NCAA Tournament play.
The Rams fell behind 3-0 at the half, while freshman goalkeeper Stacey Rao (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) made five saves in her 45 minutes of play, before sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Maass (Mastic Beach, N.Y./William Floyd) took over the duties in net for the second half.
Farmingdale's lone goal came with just over 20 minutes
remaining, as freshman forward Jamie Smith (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem
East) snuck by the Falcons defense for a one-on-one with the
Falcons' goalkeeper, and sent a ball into the lower left corner to
break the shutout with her 12th goal of the season.
Messiah finished with a 19-5 advantage in total shots and a 12-3
disparity in shots on goal. Farmingdale State came up with its
second-best chance to score just 10 minutes after halftime, but
goalkeeper Autumn Reilly made a great leaping save off a shot from
the Rams’ freshman defender Theresa Martorano (Commack,
N.Y./Commack), going skyward to tip a curling ball over the
crossbar.
Messiah will now face Endicott College Sunday evening at 6 p.m.,
for the right to continue on to next weekend’s sectional
round. Endicott (17-4-1) advanced via a 1-1 double-overtime tie
over SUNY Geneseo (14-4-3) in Saturday’s late First Round
game at Shoemaker Field. The Gulls claimed a 6-5 penalty-kick
decision following 110 minutes of soccer which ended in a deadlock.
With seven starting freshman on the Rams 2009 roster, we're sure to see more achievements from this team next season.
GO RAMS!!
*****