Owls Punctuate Dominant Regular Season with Senior Day Win

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Ashley D'Elia (Watertown, Conn.) got the scoring started in the second quarter and Maddy Barry (Norwood, Mass.) made a critical defensive save in the second half to preserve the Owls lead in a 2-1 victory over Fitchburg State in a MASCAC game on senior day on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls wrap up a historic regular season, running the table in the conference by improving to 12-0 in the league and 16-3 overall. Westfield also rides a lengthy 14-game winning streak into the MASCAC Tournament with their last loss coming all the way back in early September.

Westfield, which earned the MASCAC regular season title and the number one overall seed in the conference tournament in the win at Salem on Tuesday night, recognized their nine seniors prior to the start of today's game: Maddy Barry, Erin Murphy, Shannon Gover, Erin Lane, Sadie Stauffer, Kaleigh Murphy, Morgan Beirne, Jayonna Montigny, and Emma Gniadek.

The Owls used their first penalty corner of the game to begin the scoring. D'Elia took the insert and directed a pass to Kaleigh Murphy (Pembroke, Mass.) at the top of the shooting arc where she fired a shot towards goal which was tipped off the stick of Sadie Stauffer (Suffield, Conn.). The ball popped up high in the air, tracking towards the goal where D'Elia was able to bat the ball out of midair and into the cage for a 1-0 lead.

Caroline Andrade (Watertown, Mass.) nearly found a second goal for the Owls entering halftime, with a pair of point-blank shots saved by Isabella Corcoran (Braintree, Mass.) who delivered a fine effort in net by racking up seven saves.

Westfield did not call upon Emma Gniadek (Worcester, Mass.) often in the first half, but the pair of saves she stopped in the opening 30 were timely in keeping the Owls ahead. Early in the second quarter, Olivia Narkevicius (Phillipston, Mass.) received a crossing pass which was beautifully read by Gniadek, sliding to her right to cut down the shooting angle to make a spectacular save with the game still tied at zero.

In the third quarter, Andrade was able to get one past Corcoran, working her way into the shooting area where she would tee up a shot that skipped past several players in front, beating Corcoran to double the lead at 2-0.

Fitchburg had five scoring chances in the third quarter, the most of any quarter in the game. Gniadek made consecutive saves in tight to the frame, then a penalty stroke was awarded to the Falcons. Samantha Yates (Woodstock, Vt.) lifted the shot which was nearly saved by the stick of Gniadek, getting a piece of the ball before ultimately settling into the upper right of the cage to trim the Owls lead.

In the closing minutes of the third, the Falcons nearly found an equalizer with Kendall O'Brien (Townsend, Mass.) getting two opportunities. The first was saved by Gniadek with the ball sneaking behind the Owls keeper where O'Brien fired a second attempt towards an empty net before Barry was able to hustle back into the play and sweep the ball off the line to keep Westfield in front. Gniadek was decisive and in good position throughout the game, making six saves to register her tenth win of the campaign.

That play would prove to be the difference in the game as the Westfield defense held Fitchburg without a shot on goal in the fourth quarter, ultimately capturing the victory.

Westfield outshot Fitchburg 15-11 in the game and were limited to only three penalty corners compared to the Falcons six.

Westfield State will begin their title defense in the MASCAC Tournament on Thursday in a MASCAC Semifinal game from Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass. at 7:00 P.M. against the lowest remaining seed of games to be played in the first round on Tuesday night. Fitchburg State holds the third seed in the conference tournament and will host sixth seed Framingham in a first round matchup on Tuesday at 6:00 P.M.