Albany, NY –The Sage women's soccer team hosted the Knights of Mt. St. Mary College in the Skyline Conference semifinals. Seeded No. 2, the Gators hosted the program's first Skyline Conference Semifinals against the No. 3 seeded Knights with the winner advancing to Skyline Championship on Saturday. The contest was played to a 1-1 double overtime tie, before MSMC advanced in penalty kicks, 2-0. MSMC advances to the program's sixth straight championship appearance and will face the winner of the contest between top seeded Farmingdale State and St. Joseph's (LI) on November 7. MSMC improves to 14-6-2, while Sage's season ends at 14-4-1.
Sage struck first as rookie Jordyn Logan (Canajoharie, NY/Canajoharie) picked up her sixth goal of the year as she converted a shot from junior Shelby Sarraino (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) at 16:16. The Gators led 1-0 at the break and held the Knights scoreless until the rookie forward Maeve O'Sullivan (Garden City Park, NY/New Hyde Park Memorial) banged in the pass from rookie midfielder Hannah Pascual (Freeport, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) at the 64:38 mark to tie the action.
In the final minutes of regulation, both teams had their chances, but Sage's senior goalie Nicole Maher (Glen Clove, NY/Saint Dominic) and MSMC's sophomore keeper, Mary Riley (Newburgh, NY/Our Lady of the Lourdes) each came up with big saves to keep the score deadlocked.
In the overtime, MSMC held a 7-3 shot advantage over Sage, while Maher made a career-best 17 saves in the action.
In the penalty kick round, the first five attempts by both teams were saved or missed the goal. MSMC's sophomore Bridget McKeever (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) made her attempt, while the next Sage attempt by Savannah Mason (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) was saved. Sophomore Emily Scheuer (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon) made her attempt to seal the victory for the Knights.
Sage's 2015 campaign comes to an end after the program helped to rewrite the record book with a program-best 14-4-1 mark, an 8-1 Skyline record and a share of the 2015 Skyline regular-season crown.
The contest marked the end of the career for three Sage performers. Maher, who played her first three years as a field player and capped her senior campaign as both a goalie and field performer, earned Skyline First Team honors as a goalie. She went 13-2-1 in net with a 0.80 GAA, while allowing just 10 goals in 16 games, She also tallied 16 points this fall on six goals and four assists. With the release of the latest NCAA Division III statistics, Maher is ranked No. 70 in the country with her 0.80 goals against average. Offensively, Maher finishes as the program's No. 3 all-time leader in career goals with 34, while adding 18 assists, which was No. 2. She tallied 86 career points, which is No. 3 at Sage. Team tri-captain Jamie Hovendon (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Township) capped her time as a Gator and was able to return to the lineup on Wednesday after missing part of the season with an injury. Senior midfielder Angelica DeCianni (Green Island, NY/Heatly) caps her four-year career at Sage having played in 54 games with three assists.