News Release

Masterson Masterful as Montclair Edges Penn State Behrend in NCAA Tournament Second Round, 2-1

Montclair, NJ (11/10/07) � Junior forward Tyler Masterson (Long Valley, NJ / West Morris Central) scored both goals, including the game-winner with 14:27 to play in regulation as Montclair State edged Penn State Behrend, 2-1 in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Division III Men�s Soccer Championship at Sprague Field on Saturday evening.

Senior Owen Nichols (Princeton, NJ / Princeton) collected both assists as the Red Hawks (18-2-1), the New Jersey Athletic Conference champions, now advance to the Sectional Tournament for the second straight season. MSU will face an opponent to be determined either on Friday, November 16 or Saturday, November 17 at a site to be announced. Those announcements will be made on Monday, November 12. Last year, MSU fell to Dominican College (IL) in penalty kicks in the �Sweet 16�. MSU, making its eighth appearance in the Division III Tournament and is now 3-6-1 in NCAA play.

Freshman defender Jordan Hoffay (McKees Rock, PA / Montour) had a goal for the Penn State Behrend, which concludes its season at 14-5-3. The champion of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, the Lions reached the second round by knocking off Washington & Jefferson, 1-0 on Wednesday in Pennsylvania. It was Behrend�s second trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament as the Lions were made an appearance in 2003.

Masterson, Montclair State�s leading scorer, broke a scoreless tie at the 33:32 mark with his 13th goal of the season. Nichols served the ball into the middle of the box where Masterson corralled the pass and made a no-look shot toward the goal that stunned Behrend keeper Dustin Walker (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) as Montclair grabbed a one-goal lead.

That�s the way the game stayed as Walker stopped several Montclair State opportunities as he finished with six saves in the first half.

In the second half, the Lions created more opportunities for themselves, but were denied twice by MSU netminder Nick Mele (Delran, NJ / Delran) until the 70:20 mark when Hoffay collected his first goal of the season off a corner kick. David Balerno (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) served a ball into a crowd in front of the goal where it was knocked around before coming out to Hoffay, who cranked a shot from just outside the 18 yardline through a crowd of players before finding the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1.

The tie did not last long as just over five minutes later Masterson came through again, his 14th tally of the year. Nichols again made a perfect pass from the right side in front to Masterson, who settled the ball and made a move to his right before letting go of a grounder that trickled into the lower left side to give Montclair State the 2-1 lead.

Mele made the advantage hold up as he posted the last of his four saves in the game with 21 seconds left to preserve the victory for MSU. Walker finished with seven saves in the game.

Montclair State held a 17-8 advantage in shots in the contest and the Red Hawks also had seven corner kicks to Behrend�s two.

Submitted 2007-11-10 19:33:23 by Montclair State University Sports Information Department

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