Troy, NY—Westfield State senior Brittany Bowes scored a pair of goals to lead the Owls as Westfield State defeated the Sage Colleges, 4-1, in the Gators debut as an NCAA Division III field hockey program on Saturday afternoon at RPI's Harkness Field.
With the win, WSU is now 1-0 and Sage falls to 0-1 on the young season.
The Owls led 2-0 at the half as senior forward Brittany Bowes (Leicester, MA/Leicester) struck early on a scramble in front of the Sage goal for her first goal of the year at just 0:28. Right before the half, rookie forward Allie Giguere (Lynn, MA/Bishop Fenwick) scored her first career goal giving WSU a 2-0 lead at 30:41.
Bowes found the goal again at 38:31 on a feed from senior Jordyn Gosselin (Bolton, VT/Mount Mansfield) for her second score on the day.
Sage made the most of a penalty corner opportunity and after the initial shot attempt was saved, Gator rookie Samantha Marrish (Hudson, NY/Germantown) etches her name into the record books for the first goal in the program's history. She capitalized on the feed from freshman Cortney Conley (Stanfordville, NY/Stissing Mountain) at 48:34, cutting the lead to 3-1. WSU scored one more time as rookie Cheryl Latona (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) scored on a feed from senior midfield Carly Zona (Auburn, MA/Auburn) at 55:38.
Sage's rookie keeper Abigayle Greier (Elma, NY/Iroquois Central) made her debut in net and made nine saves for the day. She was aided by some tough defensive play as Sage combined for four defensive saves in the match, including a pair by Marrish. WSU's rookie goalie Riley Goulet (Marion, MA/Old Rochester) earned the win through 60 plus minutes of service with two saves. Sophomore Katie Vamosi (Easton, MA/Oliver Ames) worked the final minutes of the contest with no saves.
Westfield State will be back in action tomorrow, with a noon start at Springfield College.