FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2006

BOX SCORE

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Northeast Conference Player of the Year freshman Andrea Lopez (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) tallied a pair of goals to propel second-seeded Monmouth past No. 3 seed Central Connecticut State, 2-1, in the second semifinal game of the NEC Women's Soccer Tournament on Friday afternoon at LIU Field in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Monmouth opened the scoring in the 40th minute after junior Brittani Heller (Newton, N.J./Newton) received a cross from classmate Amy Hoyer (Chesterfield, N.J./North Burlington) and headed the ball to Lopez, who put the ball past CCSU goalkeeper Caity Casey.

Just over two minutes later the Blue Devils answered back with a score of their own. Sophomore Siobhan McCaffrey passed the ball to senior Jessica McCavanagh, who headed it off the post and into the net to tie the game going into halftime.

Lopez struck again in the 54th minute. The Hawks' Hoyer lined up a corner kick and found Lopez on the right side in front of the goal. Lopez got a head on the ball and put it into the corner of the net for her 13th goal of the season.

Monmouth held the edge in shots, 14-8. Casey made five saves in the loss and her counterpart, Katie Buffa (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow), stopped a pair of shots.

The Hawks improved to 14-3-2 and will take on Long Island University in the NEC Championship match on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 1:00 p.m. Central Connecticut State fell to 8-9-2.


Central Connecticut (8-9-2) vs. MONMOUTH (14-3-2)
Date: 11/03/06 Attendance: 245

Goals by period 1 2 Tot
-------------------------------
Central Connecticut. 1 0 - 1
MONMOUTH............ 1 1 - 2

SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 39:17 MU LOPEZ, Andrea (12) (HELLER, Brittani;HOYER, Amy)
2. 41:30 CCSU McCAVANAGH, Jessica (7) (McCAFFREY, Siobhan)
3. 53:28 MU LOPEZ, Andrea (13) (HOYER, Amy)

Shots: Central Connecticut 8, MONMOUTH 14
Saves: Central Connecticut 5 (CASEY, Caity 5), MONMOUTH 2 (BUFFA, Katie 2)