Lancers Beat Bridgewater in Finals, 3-1
(Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports
Information)
BRIDGEWATER,
Mass. – The Lancers of
Worcester State College defeated Bridgewater State
this afternoon in the MASCAC Championship game from
Swenson Field in Bridgewater. With the win,
Worcester State (15-5-1) advances to the NCAA
Division III Women’s Soccer Tournament for the third
consecutive year. The loss drops the Bears to 9-6-4.
Captains Kim Massa and
Melissa Colwell accept the MASCAC Championship
Trophy from MASCAC Commissioner Angela Baumann.
The Lancers struck first with a goal coming with just under twelve minutes remaining in the first half. The goal was scored by junior midfielder Kelsey Irish (Hudson, MA), tallying her fourth of the year. Worcester scored again just six minutes later, this time off the foot of sophomore forward Katelyn Bonetti, (Plymouth, MA) with the assist going to Amanda Santos (Milford, MA). Bonetti is now has seven goals on the season.
Each team fought hard throughout the second half as Worcester State defended their 2-0 lead, while Bridgewater looked to crack the shutout. The Lancers netted their final goal in the 75th minute off the foot of Santos who scored her team leading 11th of the season. She was assisted by sophomore Tiffany Rotatori (Auburn, MA).
The Bears finally scored three minutes later with an unassisted goal by senior Jessica Chiachio (Stoneham, MA). Chiachio now has a career-high ten goals this season which is also the most for the Bears since Kim Rhodes netted 18 in 2002.
The Bears had several chances to score, but were denied each time by Worcester State goalkeeper Kim Massa (Westford, MA). Massa was near perfect in net as she finished with seven saves en route to the victory.
Worcester State College will begin play in the NCAA tournament on Wednesday, November 8th. Despite the loss, BSC still hopes to earn an ECAC Tournament bid which will be announced early next week.
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