WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Jaida Cochran (Middleboro, Mass.) secured her third goal of the season early in the first half, then first-year Kiana Muratsuka (Mililani, Hawaii) put the finishing touches on an Owls 2-0 victory over Fitchburg State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game on the road Friday night.
Tonight's matchup was a rematch of last year's conference championship game which the Owls won, 1-0.
The Owls enter the back stretch of the season having now won six of their last seven games, driving their conference record to a perfect 5-0 while improving to 9-5 overall. The Falcons drop to 2-8-3 on the season and 1-3-1 in league action.
Westfield State opened the scoring at the 13:54 mark when Cochran collected a feed from senior Erin White (Plympton, MA) and deposited a shot inside the near post for her third goal on the season for the 1-0 edge.
The game would hold to that same margin through halftime and deep into the second half before Muratsuka found the back at the 82:45 mark for her tenth goal of the season, with assists from junior Delaney Parker (Orange, MA) and sophomore Tori Dodge (North Canaan, CT), resulting in the 2-0 final.
Westfield State held a 23-7 margin in shots, while also finishing with a 6-3 edge in corner kicks. Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) posted four saves, including a critical stop inside the 59th minute of play to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard and to preserve the shutout victory. Freshman Madison Dawkins (Haverhill, MA) stopped two shots for the Falcons.
Westfield State will remain on the road for their next contest as the Owls travel to UMass Boston for a non-conference game on Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.