Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Soccer team opens the 2022 Skyline Conference Championship Saturday afternoon when it travels to #3 seed Farmingdale State. The Knights and Rams, who met in the Championship Final last season, are scheduled to kick-off at 1:00 p.m.
 
At A Glance: Mount Saint Mary enters Saturday's contest with a 6-10-3 overall record and earned the final spot in the conference championship with a 6-3-2 record against league rivals. The Knights went unbeaten in their last four conference decisions (3-0-1) and have not suffered a league loss since falling 3-2 at Farmingdale State on October 15.
 
The Mount's scoring attack features 11 players with at least two goals on the season, led by nine markers and 21 points from freshman Kaitlin Hansen (Port Jervis, N.Y.). Classmate Shannon McGowan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) supports the offense with six tallies and adds four assists for 16 points. McGowan leads the Mount with a trio of game winning goals entering the weekend.
 
Angie Mainiero (Vineland, N.Y.) finished the regular season with five goals, including two game winners, and 12 points with fellow freshman Emma Mihale (Oceanside, N.Y.) leading the team with six assists and joining Mainiero with 12 points. Maria Baldwin (Patchogue, N.Y.) rounds out five players with at least 10 points on the year with four goals and two assists.
 
Darla Petricca (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) supports the offense with two goals and five helpers, while Wendy Guerra (Newburgh, N.Y.) and Megan Stosch (North Babylon, N.Y.) each closed out the regular season with three goals. Maggie Zecca (Mountainside, N.J.) and Marilena Mangiaracina (Franklin Square, N.Y.) each have scored twice to date for the Knights.
 
The Knights have used three goalkeepers with Carolina Brucato (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) and Christina Kakavas (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) seeing the bulk of action. Brucato has started 10 games and played 710:39, making a team-high 48 saves and recording a shutout. Kakavas has played 645:27 and turned aside 27 shots while adding one clean sheet for the Knights.
 
Scouting Farmingdale State: The Rams earned the three seed after finishing the conference schedule with an 8-1-2 record to go along with an 8-9-3 overall mark in 2022.
 
Alyse Rivera and Emily Zeblisky sit atop the team leaderboard with 10 goals apiece with Zeblisky adding five assists for a team-high 25 points. Rivera enters the weekend with 24 points for the Rams, while Julissa Martinez leads the Skyline Conference with nine assists and checks in with 19 points. True Eggers supports the offense through the regular season with 10 points for the Rams.
 
Like the Knights, Farmingdale State has seen three goalkeepers get time during the regular season. Lindsey Jolly has started 10 games to date and played 971:42 of a possible 1800:00 and leads the team with a 1.11 goals against average and four shutouts. Chloe Kensell has played 638:57 for the Rams and has made a team-high 47 saves.
 
Regular Season Recap: Farmingdale State held off a late rally from the Knights on October 15 to score a 3-2 home win, the Mount's last defeat at the hands of a Skyline Conference opponent.
 
Martinez gave Farmingdale State an early lead with a goal at the 14:08 mark before Julia Accetura (Prospect, Conn.) knotted the score for the Knights just 44 seconds later off an assist from Hansen.
 
The game remained tied until the Rams struck twice just under three minutes apart late in regulation time. Zeblisky scored her sixth of the year in the 75^th minute to give the Rams the lead before Eggers scored what proved to be the game winning goal in the 78^th minute.
 
Mihale brought the Knights to within the final one-goal decision with a marker in the 88^th minute, but the Mount would not manage a shot after the goal, despite two corner kicks in the closing minute.
 
Recent History: The longtime Skyline Conference rivals have met 24 times since the start of the 2007 season, including in the Skyline Conference Championship Final on nine occasions. The Mount holds a 5-16-3 record against the Rams in the previous 24 meetings and have never beaten Farmingdale State in the Skyline Conference Championship. Saturday's contest will be the first meeting between the two programs in the conference championship outside of the Championship Final.
 
What's At Stake: Saturday's winner will travel to second seed the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Wednesday afternoon.