POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – All Saints Day turned into All Saints Night for Siena Women’s Soccer at Tenney Stadium. The third seeded Saints steamrolled I-87 rival and No. 2 seed Marist 2-0 in the MAAC Semifinals to advance to the championship match for the fifth time in program history.

 

Siena (11-7-3) will take aim at the program’s third MAAC Championship (2010, 2015) when they battle regular season champion and No. 1 seed Monmouth in the championship match in West Long Branch, New Jersey Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN3. The two-time defending MAAC Tournament Champion Hawks defeated the Saints 1-0 in the regular season meeting between the squads Sept. 29 on the Jersey Shore, and advanced to their third consecutive championship match with a 3-0 shutout of fourth seeded Niagara earlier Thursday.

 

The Saints dominated from start to finish in securing their conference-leading 10^th MAAC Tournament win since 2010. Siena held a commanding 21-11 advantage in shots to improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine matches vs. Marist (9-8-2), while also ending the Red Foxes’ season for the third time in four years.

 

Darby D’Angelo led the way offensively with arguably her greatest performance donning the Green and Gold. The sophomore registered a career-high eight shots – four of which she put on target – and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 23^rd minute. Freshman Ashleigh Sarafin fed D’Angelo at the top of the box, where she lofted a shot over the keeper for the decisive tally. Both of D’Angelo’s career game-winning goals have now come at the expense of Marist.

 

Meghan Riccardi then put the match away in the 62^nd minute when she corralled a costly turnover by the keeper in deep, and finished into the vacated goal. The senior captain’s score came exactly three years to the day after her game-winning goal vs. the Red Foxes at Tenney Stadium in the 2015 MAAC Tournament as a freshman, which helped propel the Saints towards the program’s second championship.

 

Siena’s defense did the rest as the Saints set a new team single-season record with their 10^th shutout. MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year Taylor Dorado made four saves to become Siena’s all-time leader with 20 career shutouts, while also setting a new program individual benchmark with her ninth clean sheet this fall.

 

Abigail Renaud made six saves for Marist which was making its fourth straight MAAC Tournament appearance.  

 

Sunday’s MAAC Championship Match will feature the conference’s past three champions, as the Saints won their second and most recent title on Monmouth’s home soil in 2015, while the Hawks set their sights on a three-peat. The contest also features the MAAC’s two hottest teams, as Siena has now won eight of their last nine after avenging their lone defeat from the past month. Meanwhile Monmouth will carry a 10-match unbeaten streak into Sunday in which they’ve outscored their opponents by a 34-2 margin.