WESTFIELD, Mass. – The seventh-seeded Westfield State field hockey team put up a valiant effort at second-seeded Worcester State, but ultimately the higher seed wore down the Owls defense in a season ending 3-2 loss to the Lancers in a Little East Conference tournament first round game.
Westfield's season comes to an end with a 10-9 overall record.
Westfield held leads of 1-0, and 2-1, but the Lancers netted a pair of fourth quarter goals, then held on down the stretch for the win.
Westfield got on the board first with a perfect cross from Skyla Harthcock (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) that Taylor Creech (Kennebunk, Maine) buried for a 1-0 lead just 1:12 into the game.
Worcester tied the game 1-1 on Karalyn Jones' penalty-stroke goal in the 10th minute, but Westfield regained the lead with seven seconds left in the half, as Morgan Wichmann (Granby, Conn.) ripped a blast from the top off the circle on a corner play after an insert from Harthcock.
Harthcock finished with a pair of assists, and finishes the year with 10 goals and 10 assists for 30 points, leading the Owls in all three categories.
Penalty corners were the story in the second half, as Worcester applied offensive pressure and were awarded nine second-half corners to none for the Owls.
Worcester finally tallied on it's 11th corner of the game, as Jones ripped a shot through traffic that Molly Cutting tipped up and over Owls goalkeeper Paige Reisman (Milford, Mass( to take tie the game at 2-2 3:10 into the fourth quarter.
The Lancers tallied another goal off of play just 1:57 later with Natalya Morin tallying what would prove to be the game winner.
Westfield generated some offensive pressure with a pair of good shots at the eight-minute mark, but ultimately the Owls pulled Reisman for the final 1:35 of the game in an effort to try to score, and the Westfield survived the 13th Worcester penalty corner of the game without a goalkeeper on the field.
Worcester finished with a 13-2 advantage in penalty corners, and 14-8 margin in shots. Reisman made five saves for Westfield, including several sliding stops as she weathered the Lancers attack in the third quarter.
Madison Ferrara finished with three saves in goal for Worcester (14-6) which advances to host Castleton State in a semifinal round game.