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Nov. 7, 2003
MOONTOWNSHIP, PA (November 7, 2003) - The Sacred Heart women's soccer team advanced to the Northeast Conference Championship Game with a 1-0 win over Long Island Friday afternoon. The win puts the Pioneers in the final for the second time in the past three years and pits them against the #1 seeded Central Connecticut Blue Devils. Freshman Lisa Burbige (Babylon, NY) netted her second goal of the season to provide the winning margin.
The two teams played a scoreless first half with the Pioneers firing eight shots to Long Island's one and forcing Blackbird goalkeeper Stephanie Kansky to make all of her four saves in the first 45 minutes of action. The two teams played to a dead even tie for most the second period with LIU getting the majority of offensive chances, shooting on goal six times.
It appeared the day's second semifinal was destined for overtime when in the 84th minute the Pioneers finally struck gold. Senior Paula Pineda (Vigo, Spain) blasted a shot her shot just high off the cross bar but Burbige was there to clean up the rebound sending the Pioneers home 1-0 winners at 84:07.
Senior goalkeeper Leslie Konsig (Millburn, NJ) made four saves, all in the second half, to notch the win and the shutout. Konsig, voted yesterday the All-NEC goalkeeper for the third-straight season, also picked-up her 11th shutout of the season breaking her own school record for shutouts in a season (10).
The win improves Sacred Heart to 10-5-3 overall on the year while Long Island falls to 9-9-1.
In the opening match of the day, the CCSU Blue Devils advanced via a 3-2 win over Monmouth. Sacred Heart fell to Central at home during the regular season, 1-0 in overtime. The Blue Devils ousted the Pioneers from last year's tournament with a 1-0 win on their home field. During SHU's championship run in 2001, the Pioneers ousted Quinnipiac 2-1 and UMBC 1-0 en route to the title.
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