Men's Lax Falls to Montclair State in Skyline Championship Game

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (4/28/12) – Montclair State University scored the first three goals of the game and didn’t look back in defeating Kean University, 17-10, to capture the Skyline Conference Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The top-seeded Red Hawks (12-6) were led by Jack Skeels, who finished with four goals and two assists. 

For the Cougars (11-5), senior midfielder Nick Angrisani scored a team-high four goals in the final game of his career. 

Montclair State opened the first quarter with a 5-1 lead, as Skeels netted two of the team’s first three goals and Skyline Conference Player of the Year Tyler Meth added a goal and an assist. 

In the second quarter, Kean scored three of the first four goals, pulling to within 6-4 on a goal by junior Sean Bobal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the quarter.  However, Montclair State closed the half with four straight goals, as Skeels scored once and added an assist for the 10-4 lead at halftime.

The Red Hawks extended the scoring run to seven straight goals with the first three of the second half to open a 13-4 lead on the unassisted goal by Joel Van Der Wal with 8:49 left in the quarter.  Angrisani (pictured left) halted the run with the unassisted goal at the 6:07 mark, the first of three straight goals for Kean, as Angrisani later cut the deficit to 13-7 with 3:46 remaining. 

Montclair State answered right back six seconds later on the unassisted goal by Kenneth Bogert, and Bogert and Van Der Wal also netted the first two goals of the fourth quarter to extend the lead back to nine goals.  Kean closed the game scoring three of the final four goals. 

Bogert finished with three goals, one assist and picked up nine groundballs, while Meth added two goals and an assist.  Goalkeeper Mark Glander made eight saves in the win.

For the Cougars, rookie Jonathan Foss won 11-of-17 faceoffs and picked up eight groundballs.  Junior goalkeeper Lane Zierten made eight saves in the first 37 minutes of action, before Dino Vitale made five saves in the final 23 minutes of action.