WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State's Taylor Creech (Kennebunk, Maine) scored two goals and assisted on a third as the Owls rallied past Salem State, 5-1 in a Little East Conference field hockey game at Alumni Field on Tuesday evening.
Westfield improves to 10-7 overall and 7-4 in the LEC, while Salem is 4-11 and 2-9 in the Little East. Westfield sits in seventh place in the 12-team Little East, and has assured themselves of a conference playoff bid.
The game was played with a thick fog enveloping Alumni Field for the first three quarters, at times so thick one could barely see from sideline to sideline.
Salem got on the scoreboard first, 4:33 into the second quarter as Mikayla Mason (Beverly, Mass.) scored off a pass from Hannah Cochran (Marshfield, Mass.) as the Vikings got off a barrage of shots in rapid sequence in front of the Owls' net.
The lead was short lived, as Westfield responded 1:01 later, as Creech fired a pass across the goal mouth from the right-hand side that Skyla Harthcock (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) buried at the back post to tie the game at 1-1.
Creech added the Owls next two goals after the half, netting what proved to be the game winner in the 42nd minute, converting off a crossing pass from Corryn Moroney (Granby, Mass./S. Hadley HS), and then in the 50th minute knocking home a rebound off the goalie pads of Salem's Carson Reidy (Burlington, Mass.) after a long shot from the Owls' Morgan Wichman (Granby, Conn.)came bouncing into the circle.
Sarah Richard (Templeton, Mass./Oakmont) added the Owls fourth goal with fine attacking paly from the right side, beating a pair of Salem defenders with good stick work before finishing with a shot through the five-hole.
Finally, as time wound down, Westfield hustled the ball up the right side of the field, where Moroney crossed the ball to Westfield State senior Lindsey Spindel (Mendon, Mass./Nipmuc) alone in the middle of the circle, who capped her Alumni Field career with a shot to the backboard to cap the scoring with just six seconds left.
It was a fitting finish for Spindel, who was honored as Westfield's lone senior in the pregame ceremonies. Spindel started her career at LIU-Post before transferring to Westfield and using her extra year of eligibility granted by a Covid-19 waiver after play was cancelled in the 2020 fall season.
Moroney finished with pair of assists for the Owls, who will next play at Keene State on Saturday in the regular-season finale. Westfield will play in a Little East Conference playoff game on Tuesday, Nov. 1, with seeding still to be determined by this week's outcomes as two games separate the second-through-seventh seeds in the league table.
Westfield got two saves in goal from Paige Reisman (Milford, Mass.), while Salem got three saves from Reidy. Westfield had an 8-2 advantage in penalty corners, and a 19-6 margin in total shots.
Salem will next host Eastern Connecticut on Saturday in their regular season finale.