Blackbirds Roll Past Mount St. Mary's, 3-0; Clinch NEC Regular Season Title

(boxscore)

10/29/06 -- Seniors Lizelle Jackson (Burbank, Calif.), Ashley O’Connor (Venetia, Pa.) and Allison Andreano (Denville, N.J.) all tallied goals on Senior Day as the Long Island University women’s soccer team wrapped up the Northeast Conference regular season title with a 3-0 victory over Mount St. Mary’s at LIU Field on Sunday afternoon.

The win also secures that Long Island (11-7-1, 8-1 NEC) will host the NEC Tournament, set to begin on Nov. 3. The game was also the final regular-season home contest for eight seniors: Jackson, O’Connor, Andreano, Selima Berisha, Christine Gans, Erica Chong, Stephanie Kansky and Tiffany Dunbar.

The Blackbirds opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Freshman Aly Hanson (New Milford, N.J.) sprinted down the right sideline past a defender and sent a cross into the box. Jackson was there to deflect the cross into the upper-right corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

Two minutes later, LIU had an opportunity to push their advantage to two. A foul in the Mount box gave the Blackbirds a penalty kick. Andreano took it and sent the ball to the upper-left corner, but Mount goalie Anna Lebo was there to push the ball over the crossbar and keep the score at 1-0.

Hanson set up the second goal, this time drawing a foul in the box for another penalty shot. O’Connor took the kick and cashed in for the Blackbirds second goal of the contest.

Right after halftime, Long Island tacked on a third goal. Andreano sent a shot from about 35 yards out that looped over the defense and hit the crossbar. The ball just crossed the goal line before Lebo could knock it away, giving the senior midfielder her fourth goal this year.

Kansky had five saves in goal and picked up her 11th win of the year and 35th of her career. The 11 victories this season ties her with Mary Jaeger (1999) for the school’s single-season victory record.

The Blackbirds will face the No. 4 seed in the Northeast Conference tournament on Friday, Nov. 3 at LIU Field.