BALTIMORE, Md. - The Marist Women's Soccer advanced to the MAAC Finals with an exciting penalty kick win over Fairfield. After 110 minutes of 1-1 action, the Red Foxes converted three of their four penalty kicks to advance by a count of 3-2. Junior Caitlin Landsman (Burke, Va.) came up with two stops of Stag penalty kicks to lead Marist.

In a game that involved the two stingiest defenses in the MAAC, Friday afternoon's matchup shaped up to be a defensive battle. Fairfield forgot that memo and broke through with a goal 66 seconds into the game. Off of her own rebound Carly Beyar headed in the marker.

Unrattled, the Red Foxes got back into their game and started putting together one sustained offensive possession, after another. The Fairfield defense stood strong throughout the next 30 minutes and did not allow Marist to register a shot.

The Red Foxes notched their first shot with a bang as freshman Amanda Epstein (Jericho, N.Y.) put a diving header into the back of the net for her 10^th goal of the season. After a Samantha Panzner (Livingston, N.J.) pass out to the right wing, a sprinting Jessica Arabia (Naperville, Ill.) served the ball into Epstein.

The first half closed with the score tied 1-1. Stats were also even as Marist and Fairfield had three shots and two shots on goal a piece.

Coming out in the second half, the name of the game was physicality and defense. Both of these factors produced a scoreless 45 minutes of play. The Red Foxes continued to control the pace of play and ball movement throughout, registering six shots to Fairfield's four. Marist's best scoring opportunities in this period filled with 18 fouls, were a Rycke Guiney (Naperville, Ill.) shot that was blocked in the 70^th minute and a shot by Arabia that sailed wide right in the 77^th minute. Landsman closed the period with an athletic, leaping save of a Beyar shot over the crossbar at 83:52.

In overtime, freshman Marjana Maksuti (Delmar, N.Y.) recorded the only shot on goal during the first 10 minute period. The second overtime saw the offenses open up a bit more as Arabia and Epstein were able to get shots off, while Ashley Small registered a shot for Fairfield.

In penalty kicks, Landsman was the story as the junior goalkeeper stopped to two of Fairfield's three failed attempts. Junior Melanie Rigo (Huntington, N.Y.), Epstein and sophomore Kylee McIntosh (Cheshire, Conn.) converted shots for the Red Foxes, who advanced to their third-ever MAAC Final, 3-2.

For the game, Marist outshot Fairfield 12-8 with a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Red Foxes also led in corner kicks, 4-1.

Landsman made two saves and moved her record to 7-1-2 on the season.

The Red Foxes await the winner of the second semifinal involving #2 Niagara and #3 Loyola. The 2011 Chick-fil-A Women's Soccer Championship will be contested on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m.