Men's Soccer Falls to Top-Seed Montclair State, 3-0

Montclair, N.J. (10/31/06) - Montclair State University seniors Ryan Morgan (Princeton, N.J.) and Bill Anthes (Cranford, N.J.) scored the first and last goals as top-seeded MSU advanced to the championship game in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament with a 3-0 victory over No. 4 Kean University at Sprague Field on Tuesday evening.

Junior Kyle Crego (Ocean City, NJ) made eight saves for Kean (9-7-5), which suffered its second straight 3-0 loss to MSU this season as the Cougars fell by the same margin in Union back on October 11.

Morgan broke a scoreless tie at the 22:45 mark as he netted his 11th goal of the season. The senior stole Ball from two defenders at 20 and trucked his way through to inside the 18 before releasing a shot that ducked inside the right post for the score. The goal gave Morgan 24 points this season and he recorded the 100th point of his career becoming just the fifth Montclair State player in history to reach the century mark.

Montclair led 1-0 at halftime, but Kean nearly tied the game five minutes into the second half. Jacob Denny (Mount Holly, NJ) put a shot on net that goalkeeper Nick Mele (Delran, NJ) stopped in the air. The ball trickled down toward the ground and nearly into the net before Mele was able to regain possession and punt the ball away.

Sophomore Tyler Masterson (Long Valley, N.J.) extended the lead to 2-0 at 76:13 as he took a feed from Joe Cullen (Clementon, N.J.) and fired a shot into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the year. Anthes then added his 16th of the year 31 seconds later ripping a shot from the 30 yardline into the left side of the net. The 16th goal by Anthes are the most by a Red Hawk since Sebastian DiBello in 1996.

Mele finished with eight saves as he recorded his eighth shutout of the season.

Montclair State outshot the Cougars, 19-11 with Kean holding a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.

The Red Hawks will host No. 3 New Jersey City in the championship game on Friday, November 3 at Sprague Field at 7:00 pm. Montclair State defeated the Gothic Knights, 3-1 back on October 14 at Sprague Field. The winner of the NJAC title receives and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which gets underway on November 8. The Cougars await a possible bid to the Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro Region Tournament.

MSU will attempt to claim its first conference crown since 1989 when the Red Hawks won the regular season. It will also be Montclair's first trip to the tournament final since the league adopted the format in 1999. The Red Hawks also established a new school record for wins in a season with their 18th, breaking the mark of 17 set in 1988.