WORCESTER, Mass. —The Worcester State University women's soccer team scored the lone goal of the game, which concluded to be the deciding factor in the Lancer's win over the MCLA Trailblazers in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup Saturday night at John F. Coughlin Memorial Field.
The first half of play between the Trailblazers and Lancers was back and forth with little action. The Lancers outshot the Trailblazers in the first half 8-1. However, the Lancers were only able to capitalize on one shot in the 24th minute of play as Worcester State's Nikki DiPilla (Sterling, Mass.) fed the ball to teammate Cate Farmer (Billerica, Mass.) who sunk it into the back left corner of the net, giving the Lancers the 1-0 advantage.
The second half of the game proved to be more difficult for both teams as heavy rain made the pitch slippery. The Lancers were still able to maintain the lead despite the poor weather, outshooting the Trailblazers again in the second half 13-2.
Despite the bombardment of shots, MCLA's keeper Megan Richardson (Adams, Mass.) held the Lancer's to only one goal in the game. Richardson managed to save nine of 10 shots on goal for the night. Richardson sufferes the loss, and her record slides to 1-3. Worcester State's net-minder Vanessa O'Donnell (Worcester, Mass.) had two saves in shutout and improves her record to 5-6.
Following the game, Worcester State's head coach Kevin Cumberbatch commented, "It was a solid performance by the team tonight. MCLA played really well, and there is still a lot to work on moving forward for us."
MCLA will play again on Wednesday (Oct. 12) at Nichols College in a non-conference match-up at 4:00 p.m. The Lancers will resume conference play on Saturday (Oct. 15) at Westfield State for a 12:00 p.m. start time.
Release written by Worcester State Sports Information Interns