Owls Use Dominant Third Quarter to Pull Away from Bucs, 25-11

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Arianna Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) posted a career-high six goals and three assists as Westfield State outscored Mass. Maritime 10-1 in the third quarter to pull away in the second half for a 25-11 win in the MASCAC opener on the road Friday night.

The 25 goals scored by the Owls crept up on the single-game program record of 27 which was done twice in 2009 and 2010 seasons.

The Owls improve to 5-4 on the year and 1-0 in the conference. The Buccaneers drop to 3-7 on the season and 0-3 in the league.

Andresen and Willow Romo (Marlboro, Vt.) both set career-high marks in goals as the duo combined for 11 on the night. The Owls displayed roster depth throughout the contest as nine different Owls found the back of the net.

Kiely Hafensteiner (Niskayuna, N.Y.) added a six-point night with four goals and two assists. Lindsey Bohenko (Lowell, Mass.) led the Owls with four assists and added a goal to complete a five-point game. Mercedes Rozzi (South Burlington, Vt.) chipped in a goal and three assists as Westfield doubled their season-high assists total tonight by piling up 16 as a unit.

Sarah Naar (Milton, Del.) paced the Buccaneers with five goals while Lindsy Durgin (Rochester, Mass.) followed with three goals.

Westfield led 12-9 heading into the second half before an offensive explosion from the Owls broke the game wide open. Andresen and Natalie DeMaio (Westwood, Mass.) scored within the first minute of the period, followed by a tally from Rozzi twenty seconds later which pushed the Owls lead to six goals.

Durgin scored the only goal of the period for Mass. Maritime before the Owls took complete control of the game. The Owls scored five goals over a span of four minutes midway through the third with Hafensteiner depositing a pair of goals during that time to extend the lead to ten goals with 7:17 left in the period.

Romo and Andresen both found the back of the net in the closing minutes of the third as Westfield piled up 22 goals after three quarters of play to put the game out of reach.

Westfield tallied the first four goals of the game with Romo scoring the first two goals of her collegiate career by opening with the game's first goal, then closing the four-goal burst with 7:30 to play in the quarter. She finished the evening with five goals for Westfield.

Mass. Maritime would cut the Owls lead down to two goals on three separate occasions in the first half, but a mini run in the middle of the second quarter which was capped by a player-down tally by Andresen gave Westfield a 12-7 lead with 4:49 to play before halftime.

The Buccaneers held the Owls scoreless for the remainder of the first half and scored twice to trim the deficit to three goals at halftime before the strong second half from Westfield secured the win.

Sydney Smith (Dalton, Mass.) made one save for Westfield while Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) collected four saves. Madison Selby (Baltimore, Md.) stopped four shots on goal for the Buccaneers.

Westfield State travels to Western Connecticut for their next game on Wednesday at 6:00 P.M.