WESTFIELD, Mass. – After a MASCAC championship, the Westfield State University women's lacrosse team (8-1) set their sights on the NCAA tournament, where they will play against Roger Williams University (6-0), the champions of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). The two teams will play in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Colby College in Waterville, Maine on Sunday, May 9, at 11:30 A.M.
"We're super psyched to play, we're honored to have a first-round bye," said Owls head coach Jeff Pechulis. "Everything we've got, we have earned. It's nice to be in the top 32 of the tournament. Roger Williams is a strong team with a strong history, and we look forward to playing them."
Even through a season of turbulence and great challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Owls are back in the NCAA tournament after winning their fourth-straight conference tournament title. Pechulis detailed these challenges.
"The toughest part was the limited number of games out of conference, in fact we had no out of conference games before we started conference play with a young team," said Pechulis. "We had no clue what we were going to look like. We had many players that had no experience with NCAA lacrosse, just practices. After the first game of the season, everyone elevated their game, that is how we approached it and it has made us stronger."
The Owls enter the contest ranked number two in the NCAA Regional Poll for the North Division, their highest ranking ever. The team is led by senior midfielder Sam Donohoe (Pepperell, Mass.) who leads the team in goals (25) and points (33). A group of young attackers have also played a pivotal role in the success of the team. Sophomore Cassidy Harvey (Niskayuna, N.Y.) leads the team in assists (14) which places her third in the MASCAC, and is second on the team in points (30). Sophomore Cassidy Connolly provides a strong all-around game, posting 16 goals and 10 assists for a total of 26 points. First-year player and MASCAC tournament MVP Natalie DeMaio (Westwood, Mass.) joins sophomore midfielder Nicole Rinkus (Pembroke, Mass.) as the second leading scorers on the team with 18 goals each.
Defensively, the Owls present a stout unit which leads the MASCAC in fewest goals allowed per game at 8.11, anchored by first-year, MASCAC All-Conference defender Victoria Paine (Dudley, Mass.) and goaltending tandem Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and Lily Sears (Medway, Mass.). Banagan, the MASCAC All-Conference goalie, leads the conference with a .541 save percentage on the season, stopping 56 of the 102 shots faced. Sears leads the conference in fewest goals allowed per game (7.43) in four starts this season.
Roger Williams University enters the tournament with the second-best scoring offense and defense in the nation. The Hawks have scored 21.20 goals per game, while allowing just 3.80 goals per game. The Hawks present a balanced scoring attack, headlined by senior midfielder Lauren Flahive (Foxborough, Mass.) who leads the team in goals (20) and points (27). She played a crucial role in the CCC championship game as her five goals provided a massive scoring lift for the team. The Hawks have six players that have scored ten or more goals in the six games the team has played.
Hawks junior goaltender Hannah Goodwin (Bradford, Mass.) has played an integral part in the success of the team, posting a .521 save percentage and allowing just 5.89 goals per game which places her second in the conference. Back-up goaltender Addie Di Scipio (Falls Church, Va.) has also contributed to the success of their defense as she leads the conference in both save percentage (.667) and goals against per game (2.16) in 125:37 of game action.
The Owls and Hawks last faced each other in a regular season matchup in the 2017 season, in which Roger Williams won the game 12-6.
The winner of this matchup will advance into the sweet sixteen and will play the winner of Tufts University and Cabrini University on Saturday, May 15 at Colby College.
