Worcester State 0, Westfield State 0 2
OT
Worcester, MA --- Through 110 minutes Worcester State and Westfield State drew to a scoreless tie this evening at Coughlin Field in MASCAC Women's Soccer action. With the result the Lancers move to 6-5-2 and 2-0-2 in the conference while the Owls go to 11-1-2 overall and 4-0-1 in the MASCAC.
The contest was one that contained many chances by both teams to score, but both goalies played outstanding defense to each preserve the shutout.
In the opening frame, the action was back and forth for a majority as WSC ended with a 10-7 advantage in shots.
Sophomore Danielle Clifford (Attleboro, MA) had two early shots four minutes apart early on in the stanza, but both were scooped up by second-year keeper Jessica Pieciak (Three Rivers, MA). Clifford had another very good opportunity around the 20th minute mark when she received a nice pass from junior Sarah Connors (Gardner, MA), but Clifford's attempt sailed to the left of the post.
Westfield State also had two good chances to score off consecutive corners two minutes later, but both were headed out of the net by senior Stephanie Demake (Auburn, MA).
For the remainder of the period the shots on goal were even 3-3 as neither squad had a good chance to score the go-ahead maker.
To start off the second half, Westfield State nearly scored the decisive tally twice. Three minutes into the stanza, senior Colleen Kenney (Longmeadow, MA) hit a beauty into the net, but Demake rejected it as she notched Worcester State's lone team save of the contest. Seven minutes later junior Jill Ranney (Southwick, MA) had a free kick at the 30-yardline, but her bid hit the top of the crossbar.
Both teams traded shots several times until the game went into extra frames. In the first overtime the Owls had a pair of chances in the 95th and 97th minute, on shots by senior classmates Alicia Chandler (Duxbury, MA) and Meg Gearin (Groton, MA), respectively, but the first was saved by junior keeper Rachael Armenti (W. Boylston, MA) and the second was just to the left of the pipes.
In the second overtime neither squad had a good chance to end it until Connors had an open look at the top of the keeper's box in the 109th minute, but her shot went wide to the right.
Both teams finished even in shots (19-19), but Westfield had an 8-3 edge in corners. The contest was also very physical as there was a pair of yellow cards thrown - one for each team - and 33 combined fouls.
Armenti logged her third consecutive shutout and fifth of the seasonafter she helped keep a 0-0 tie in double overtime last weekend against Bridgewater State and again on Wednesday versus Johnson and Wales. Pieciak recorded her fourth shutout of the year. Both keepers finished with eight saves apiece while the Owls also ended the game with two team saves.
Both squads will play in road games on Tuesday afternoon. Worcester State will play a make-up game against Framingham State at 3:30 that was rained out on 10/3 while Westfield State heads to Rhode Island College for a 4 PM kickoff.