Westfield Worldwide: Women's Soccer's Long Reach Draws Patel, Muratsaka

WESTFIELD Mass – It is more than 10,000 miles from Mililani, Hawaii to Nairobi, Kenya, but for two newcomers to the Westfield State University women's soccer program, they have found a unique meeting point in the foothills of the Berkshires.

Westfield State women's soccer welcomed Kiana Murastuka and Kiana Patel's to campus this fall, and the long-distance duo has played a key role in the team's success, as the Owls are 11-6-1 and the number two seed in this week's Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

All the way from Mililani, Hawaii, sophomore Kiana Murastuka, has quickly become a cornerstone in the Owls success this season. Starting in 14 games, Murastuka has tallied 10 goals for the Owls with two of those goals being game winners. She has totaled three assists as well.

From Nairobi, Kenya, first-year student Kiana Patel, has established herself as a game changer off the bench. Patel has taken advantage of her opportunities, playing in 14 games for the Owls, with two goals.

Coach Todd Ditmar was not shy to give his praise to both players. Ditmar noted that Murastuka has been a "consistent offensive threat...due to her excellent ball skills and tremendous speed that challenges opposing teams."

For Patel, he praised her on the great energy that she brings off the bench to games, how she has taken advantage of each opportunity and improved after each opportunity.

The success of Westfield State women's soccer last season (when the team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament) and seasons prior, as well as the coaching staff is what drew both players to Westfield State to begin with.

"I came to Westfield for the soccer program, they were very successful last season and I wanted to play for Todd," said Murastuka, who played her first year of college soccer at NCAA D2 member Hawaii Pacific.

"The coaches started messaging me a lot, and they were really consistent with it," said Patel. "And it looked like a good school and I didn't want such a big school".

The coaching staff was crucial in recruiting the two Kianas to Westfield State but it has been the supportiveness of the team and the overall community of the campus that have continued to make their time here enjoyable.

"I really like it here." said Patel, "All the people are really nice, the team is really nice, everyone really encourages each other. And it's just a good environment."

As Murastuka noted, "Coming here and having an entire team and the coaches being my new support system has really helped me succeed as a player and as a person."

It has been a transition for both, but not without challenges.

"I would say the biggest challenge would be the weather. Like coming from Hawaii, it's a very tropical warm place and then you have weather here that fluctuates down to the 40s here so far. And so that's very difficult for me," said Murastuka.

For Patel, she noted that "It's just very different from home. Not only the environment, just the setting, all the like trends, and all the like types of people."

Heading into the season, both players had their visions of what they wanted the season to look like for them. For Murastuka, her goal was to "come in and make an impact on this team and be able to contribute to the team's success". Ultimately she has been able to do so but Murastuka is locked into a bigger team goal, to win MASCACs again and make it into the NCAA tournament. 

A goal of Patel was "really just to have fun. I knew it would be a big change from playing at home, with the people and the style of play and also just the fields but it was really just to enjoy the year."

The style of play at home has shaped Patel into the player she is today at Westfield State. Kiana described the fields at home as, "not really a field it's kind of like a dust pitch and it's quite bumpy sometimes there are rocks or rubbish on it." Patel mentioned that the inability to play a ball on the ground has made her develop a really good sense of ball control. At home, Patel is used to playing against "25 year olds or even older, and they're really big and strong so they can be quite rough but we do pretty well there so it's not that bad." Being used to rough competition has given her an edge.

Outside of coming here for soccer, the Kiana's are utilizing their opportunities at Westfield State to pursue degrees in Sports Medicine and Exercise Science. Murastuka hopes to go to medical school after graduating to become a sports medicine doctor. Patel hopes to become an athletic trainer or be involved in physical therapy.

As the season comes to a close, the Kianas reflect on the regular season and what they need to do going forward.

"We're still training, keeping our motivation high," says Patel, "Continuing to support each other and just going in with a positive mindset that we can win it again."

"I think we definitely have the talent to go very far in the postseason," says Murastuka, "I think we just have to keep up the positive energy."

The Owls will host the MASCAC semifinals at 12:00 pm on Friday, November 3, hosting #4 seed Worcester State.

-- written by Jordan Aguiar, sports information intern