The 12th-ranked Montclair State University women’s soccer team remains unbeaten after piling on three goals in the second half against Stockton University and junior midfielder Aileen Cahill notched the only goal of the first half. The win gives the Red Hawks their second straight victory against a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponent and moves them to 9-0.
The women’s soccer team is on a fantastic start to their season as they continue to go deep into conference play.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
Montclair State outshot Stockton 25-4, which ultimately led to the dominant victory for the Red Hawks.
The Ospreys won the last matchup between these two sides last Oct., and all Stockton needed was a lone goal early in the second half for the victory. Senior defender Kerri Driscoll did not forget.
“Definitely a higher confidence level especially considering last year, you know Stockton beat us so we all had some fire coming out today,” Driscoll said. “And definitely confidence was at an all-time high, we really wanted to beat them so we put all of our effort in today.”
Junior midfielder Aileen Cahill notched her fifth goal of the season already, and she was happy that the flurry of scores in the second half happened the way it did.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
Montclair State opened the scoring in the first half after an impressive through pass from Driscoll to Cahill, who fired across the goal and beat the Stockton keeper to the bottom right corner. Cahill kicking the momentum forward seems to be the norm for her so far this season.
Montclair State took the game over late after scoring two goals within one minute of each other. It started with another Driscoll assist, this time to junior forward Lauren Ernst.
Junior forward Lauren Ernst (middle) was one of four players who scored in this shutout against the Ospreys. Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
Immediately after, Cahill slipped one from the top of the box toward the penalty spot to freshman forward Kylie Prendergast, who would go on to score. That goal was Prendergast’s fourth of the season, and if you haven’t noticed, her first season as a Red Hawk is starting very strong.
Freshman forward Kylie Prendergast scored her fourth goal of the season in this game, and is making a mark already in her first year.
Trevor Giesberg | The Montclarion
The Red Hawks finished their onslaught of the Ospreys in the 87th minute with freshman forward Cait Kerr finding the back of the net for the first goal of her college career.
Driscoll notched two assists in the evening and believes the team’s aggression in the second half is what set them apart.
“[The] second half we were just being ruthless in the box,” Driscoll said. “Shots the whole time and it was just really important that we kept taking those opportunities and it really paid off in the end.”
The Red Hawks seemed comfortable in all areas of the game. The attack created many chances throughout the match, the midfield showed their composure and precision by barely losing the ball and the defense played strong once again, leading to their fifth clean sheet on the season.
The performance and the second-half flurry of goals were pretty satisfying, according to Cahill.
“I thought we played really well,” Cahill said. “I think we just didn’t stop fighting on the field, we kept giving it our all. I mean it was one nothing the whole game, could have had a couple more but then at the end, getting those three, yeah it was sweet. It paid off for us.”
As the season goes on, the competition is only going to increase as they continue to face off fellow NJAC teams and Cahill has a tremendous amount of confidence in this Red Hawks team.
“Obviously we are really excited to keep playing NJAC [opponents] and everything,” Cahill said. “Those games are just, I don’t know, they hit different. Yeah, we’re really confident in this team and what we can do but, [we’re going to] stay humble and just do what we can every game.”
Montclair State went up to Ramapo College on Saturday, Oct. 1st for their third straight NJAC matchup. They dominated again, beating Ramapo 3-1. Making them 10-0 so far this season.
