WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Kaleigh Murphy (Pembroke, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal in sudden-victory overtime to propel the Owls to a 3-2 win over Worcester State in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon as part of Family Weekend from Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass.
In a matchup between last season's top two seeds in the MASCAC Tournament, the game needed overtime to decide the victor.
Midway through the first overtime period, Abby Clark (Uxbridge, Mass.) delivered a pass from the midfield to Meredith Higgins (Enfield, Conn.) who corralled the feed then squeezed a pass in between a pair of Lancer defenders to Murphy. Murphy tracked the ball down, spun past her nearest defender and into the circle where she chipped a shot past the blocker of Madison Ferrara (Somerset, Mass.) and into the net for the goal.
The Owls were in position for the game-winner in part to the performance of Owls goalkeeper Emma Gniadek (Worcester, Mass.). Just over two minutes into overtime, the Lancers were awarded a penalty corner resulting in a tipped shot off the stick of Allison Keenan (Marlborough, Mass.) in the middle of the circle, with the high shot swatted away by Gniadek to keep the Owls alive.
Worcester scored the game's opening goal with five minutes to play in the first quarter. Natalya Morin (Barre, Mass.) flipped a shot from the top of the circle towards the net with the ball deflecting off an Owls stick and into the net.
The game remained a one-goal Lancers lead into the second half where the Owls equalized, then took the lead in a two-minute span. The tying goal started with a shot from Leah Pierce (Barnstable, Mass.) which was stopped by Ferrara causing the rebound to deflect to Higgins who quickly changed from backhand to forehand to rip a shot into the net to tie the game with 7:56 left in the third quarter.
Shortly after the Higgins marker, Sadie Stauffer (Suffield, Mass.) controlled possession at the 20-yard line before passing to Clark who then tapped a pass forward to Murphy who collected the pass, wheeled past a sliding Ferrara in net, then backhanded a shot into the empty cage to give the Owls a 2-1 advantage with 5:46 left in the third.
With the Owls leading 2-1, Worcester found the tying goal in the closing minutes of the third. Charlotte MacGregor (Bellingham, Mass.) took the insert on a penalty corner and passed the ball to Maggie Nailor (Dartmouth, Mass.) on the left side of the circle where she would fire a shot into a crowd of players, finding the stick of Morin who redirected the shot into the net on the back post for her second goal of the match.
The game remained tied after regulation time expired, setting up the Murphy for her conference-leading sixth goal of the season. Gniadek also played a steady role throughout the contest, saving three shots in overtime and one more in the fourth quarter, allowing for the Owls to eventually deposit the sudden-victory goal.
Both goalies delivered strong performances for their respective sides with Gniadek (W, 3-3) making eight saves for the Owls while Ferrara (L, 0-6) piled up 11 saves for the Lancers.
The Owls improve to 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in the MASCAC. The Lancers fall to 0-6 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Westfield State will travel to Castleton State for a non-conference game on Tuesday at 4:00 P.M. Worcester State will return home to face Bridgewater State in a MASCAC clash on Friday at 7:00 P.M.