WESTFIELD, Mass. – #15 nationally-ranked Brandeis University stayed atop the rankings, as they defeated Westfield State University 2-0 on a cold and rainy Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Brandeis got on the board quickly in the 4th minute when Julia Matson (Rockland, Mass.) would send a crisp cross to senior Sasha Sunday (Bethlehem, Penn.) for the goal and an early 1-0 lead.
Moments later in the 12th minute, Lauren Mastandrea would send a strike past the dive of Owls' goalkeeper Natalia Falcone (Sutton, Mass.) off of another feed from Matson to extend the Judges lead, 2-0.
Later in the half, the Owls would finally get on the board when freshman Madison Dufries (Leicester, Mass.) sent a beautiful chip pass over to Ashley Levya (Walpole, Mass.) who would one-time it into the back of the net to slim the Judges lead to 2-1.
But Brandeis would strike back with another goal, this time coming off the head of Katie Haye (Eau Claire, Wisc.) who headed home a nice cross from junior Emma Spector (Needham, Mass.) to make it 3-1.
The Judges outshot the Owls 9-4 in the first half, while controlling much of the play and scoring chances.
Brandeis picked up right where they left off in the first half, dominating play and outshooting the owls 9-0 in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
The two teams would trade chances after that, but nobody would find the back of the net, granting Brandeis the 3-1 victory.
As the 15th ranked team in Division III women's soccer, Brandeis improves to 11-2-0, while the Owls drop to 6-5-2 with the loss.
The Judges outshot the Owls in the match 21-6. Falcone would finish with eight saves and Brianna Hawley (Lee, Mass.) would add two for the Owls. For the Judges, Sierra Dana (Lombard, Ill.) would finish with three saves and Victoria Richardson (Tolland, Conn.) ended with one.
Westfield State gets back to conference play on Saturday when they host MASCAC rival Fitchburg State in an 11:00 a.m. match as a part of Westfield State Homecoming Weekend.
Brandeis will travel to Simmons College on Tuesday the 23rd in a non-conference matchup beginning at 7:00 p.m.