WESTFIELD, Mass. – Top-seeded Westfield State got the lone goal of the match from first-year Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass./Mahar) to lift the Owls to a 1-0 win over second-seed Worcester State in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer championship game on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Westfield improved to 15-4-1 on the season with the win, while Worcester ends its year at 9-6-2.
Westfield controlled the run of play early in the half.
The Owls got on the scoreboard when Parker, the nation's leading scorer in NCAA Division III with 31 goals this season, tallied when senior Jenn Rennich (Bedford, Mass.) lobbed a ball towards the penalty area and Parker ran on to it, beating the defender to the ball and firing a shot from the right side to the far post with 22 minutes left in the first half. Rennich extended her school record for assists to 18, and Bella Parrotte (E. Greenbush, NY/Columbia) was also credited with an assist on the play.
"It was just like a blur when it happened, I don't really know how it went in, but when it did, pure bliss," said Tournament MVP Parker.
The Lancers had their moments in the offensive end as well, the most dangerous chance coming when Worcester's Leah Fitzgerald (Upton, Mass./Nipmuc) hit the crossbar with 13:50 left in the half.
Late in the first half, the Owls had the better of play, with Rennich firing several shots that were saved by Spellman and one just high, and Jaida Cochran (Middleboro, Mass.) nailed a header from the top of the goalkeepers box that Ashley Spellman (Lancaster/Nashoba Reg.) saved at the left post with a minute and a half left in the first frame.
The second half was scoreless, but not without its share of drama as the Owls probed the back line of the Lancers with balls in to Parker and several long shots.
Worcester's best chances came with 34 minutes left when Abby Bond (Bolton, Mass./Nashoba) fired a follow up shot after a corner kick, with Westfield State junior goalkeeper Lauryn Davis (Templeton, Mass./Quabbin Regional) out of net and down on the ground after leaping through traffic to punch the ball away on the initial corner. But Davis quickly recovered to her feet and made the save.
"We had a great defensive line today," said Davis. "I knew there corner kicks went to that area of the 18, and that if I didn't go out (to challenge) they were going to get a foot on it, so I made the save initially, and I knew they were going to get (another chance) up at the top and got up and made the second save."
Moments later the Owls powered into the offensive end, and with the ball loose in the penalty area a Worcester defender tried to toe-poke the ball out of play, but misfired in effect chipping her own goalkeeper, but Spellman made a leaping save to avert disaster and keep the score 1-0.
Worcester's Megan Gurlitz (Auburn, Mass.) fired a shot just high on a counter attack with 20 minutes left, and the Lancers chances were few and far between from that point on, the last gasp a high looping shot from Fitzgerald with a minute and a half left that Westfield's Davis corralled to secure the Owls' win.
Davis made six saves for the Owls to post her sixth shutout (fourth solo) of the season.
Spellman made 12 saves to keep the Lancers chances alive throughout.
Westfield outshot the Lancers 26-14 overall and had a 13-6 margin in shots on goal. The Owls posted six corner kicks to Worcester's three.
"It's incredible after losing (in the title game) my sophomore year winning now means everything," said Owls senior captain Rennich. "I'm so happy."
With the win, Westfield earns the MASCAC's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament. The Owls will learn their destination and opponent in the NCAA's tomorrow with a scheduled 1:00 p.m. selection show which will be webstreamed at NCAA.com
"I'm super excited can't wait," said Rennich "Hopefully we get a good seed and good pick, and go somewhere cool."
