Fitchburg State 2, Worcester State 0
Worcester, MA --- Senior Paula Bartalamia (Tewksbury, MA) notched a pair of goals to lead Fitchburg State to a 2-0 victory this afternoon of Worcester State in Little East field hockey action. The Falcons improve to 4-1 (2-0 LEC) while the Lancers slip to 2-4 and 0-2 in the conference.
Fitchburg State outshot Worcester State 15-4 (11-0 on goal) and 10-2 in the second half. The Falcons kept sophomore keeper Katherine Masterjohn (Warren, MA) throughout the contest as she ended the game making eight saves for WSC.
The game was gridlocked until Bartalamia found the back of the net on a cross from freshman Jamie Kelley (Pepperell, MA) at 22:48. For the rest of the half Worcester State tried to answer, but they came up short as they were only able to fire off two shots, one off of a penalty corner opportunity.
Fitchburg State dominated the second half as they kept the ball on the Lancer side of the field for most of the stanza. The Falcons had five penalty corners in the first 12 minutes of the half, but the WSC defense did a good job of neutralizing the attack. FSC added their insurance goal at 53:21 when sophomore Heather Jerome (New Bedford, MA) found Bartalamia all alone in front of the cage.
The Lancers tried their best to get off a shot and their best look came with seven minutes remaining in the game when senior Veronica Farrell (Baldwinville, MA) had the ball, but her attempt was blocked and that was all WSC got for the rest of the contest.
Sophomore Molly Cotter (N. Easton, MA) notched the first Worcester State defensive team save in the first period as she preserved a 0-0 game with 18 minutes off the clock.
Junior Taylor Van Ahen (Seekonk, MA) posted a shutout in her first start of the year for the Falcons. Van Ahen also was not called upon to make a save in the cage this afternoon.
Both teams will face non-conference opponents on Tuesday. Worcester State hosts WPI at 7 PM while Fitchburg State travels to Salve Regina for a 4 PM stick-off.
Photo Courtesy of Albana Xhemollari - WSC Student Photographer