Owls, Lyons Ends in 0-0 Draw

WESTFIELD, Mass. – After ninety minutes of action from Alumni Field, Westfield State and Mount Holyoke College ended in a 0-0 draw in a non-conference match on Wednesday night.

The Owls are now 2-4-2 on the season while the Lyons have tied in half of their matches, moving to 1-2-3 overall.

Neither side found the back of net, but both teams had several high danger scoring chances throughout the game. Mount Holyoke had the first chance of the match three minutes in and nearly capitalized as a header from Anna Kennedy (Glendale, Wis.) off a corner kick went wide of the frame.

Westfield did not have a shot on goal in the first half, but ramped up the pressure in the second half, recording ten of their 14 shots for the match including five directed on net.

Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) had the first shot on goal which was saved by Lyons keeper Clarissa Govea (Pico Rivera, Calif.), drawing a corner kick for the Owls. Berthiaume served the ball into the box which was headed by Liv DeMember (West Boylston, Mass.) into the hands of Govea.

Three minutes earlier, the Lyons nearly found a goal on two separate attempts: a shot from the top of the box from Sage Hudson (Washington, D.C.) which was batted aside in a diving effort from Katie Valentine (Oxford, Mass.). Then on a separate run to the net for Mount Holyoke, Kendal Drezins (Slidell, La.) got behind the Owls defense and fired a right footed shot that trajected just past the far post and out of play.

At the 66^th minute, a tight angled shot from Kiana Muratsuka (Wahiawa, Hawaii) near the back line nearly caught the crossbar before ultimately flying just above the bar. Kiki McNary (Brattleboro, Vt.) had a pair of scoring chances at the 77^th minute inside the penalty area, the first of which was blocked with a rebound shot placed wide of the goal.

Tia Tollis (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Avery Placzek (Chicopee, Mass.) both attempted shots towards goal in the closing minutes, but Govea stopped both shots to seal the scoreless affair.

Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) got the start in net, playing the first half while making two saves. Valentine came in for the second half and made three saves for the combined shutout which was the Owls third time holding their opponent without a goal. Govea made five saves for the Lyons, marking the fourth time of the year that Westfield failed to score.

Westfield State has a critical conference game looming as the Owls travel to Bridgewater State for their next match on Saturday at 12:00 P.M.