WESTFIELD, Mass. – Rachel Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored two goals and assisted on the another to lead Worcester State to a hard-fough 4-2 win over Westfield State in Little East Conference field hockey action at Alumni Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Hopkins scored what proved to be the game winner with 1:44 left in the first half off a feed from Oliva Antonelli (Westford, Mass.) to stake the Lancers to a 3-1 lead.
Hopkins netted the first marker of the game in the second quarter, beating Westfield State goalie Katie Vamosi (Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames) on a 2-on-1 breakaway situation, getting a lead pass from Antonelli to set up the goal.
Westfield answered just 40 seconds later as freshman Sophie Morini (Florence, Mass./Northampton) flipped a high shot that landed wide of the cage, but the Owls' Allie Giguere (Lynn, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) dove to score a backdoor against Worcester netminder Jess Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) to tie the game 1-1.
The Lancers took a 2-1 lead with a counter attack goal midway through the second period, this time Antonelli setting up Katelyn Santos'(Acushnet, Mass./New Bedford) goal.
Worcester had a 12-1 advantage on shots in the first half, but the Owls defense stiffened in the second half, limiting the breakaway chances.
Westfield had a chance to cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth quarter, as Giguere broke in with a 1 v. 1 situation vs. Jess Hopkins, but Hopkins made a diving stop on Giguere's initial shot. Giguere gather the rebound and fired to what should have been an empty net, but Lancers' defender Cassidy Windler (Holden, Mass./Wachussett) recovered to make a defensive save on Giguere's shot and preserve the 3-1 lead. The Lancers would pad the lead just seconds later, this time with Antonelli tallying on a counter attack with a feed from Rachel Hopkins.
Westfield added a few scoring chances late, finally adding a second goal as defender Abby Chernick (Longmeadow, Mass.) netted her first collegiate goal on a penalty-corner feed from Cheryl Latona (Granby, Conn.) that cut the lead to 4-2 with 3:49 left in regulation.
Worcester held an 18-4 advantage in total shots, and led 6-2 in penalty corners. Riley Goulet (Marion, Mass./Old Rochester) and Vamosi each stopped three shots for Westfield, while Jess Hopkins made one save for Worcester before departing late in regulation.
The Lancers improve to 8-2 on the season and sit atop the MASCAC standings with a 5-0 mark in league play. Westfield slips to 4-7 and 1-4 in the league, but the Owls have already faced the top three teams in the league table. The Owls will next play a non-conference game at Elms on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.