WESTFIELD, Mass. – Alana Vincent's (Taunton, Mass.) goal in the 108th minute gave #4 seeded Bridgewater State a 1-0 upset win over top-seeded Westfield State in the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament at Alumni Field on Friday night.
With the win, Bridgewater (12-8) advances to Sunday's championship game and will play at #2 Worcester State at noon.
Vincent fed a through-ball ball to Emma Sanders (Seekonk, Mass.) into the deep right corner. Sanders beat a pair of defenders and centered the ball back to Vincent, who fired to the open left side of the net from near the penalty spot for the winning goal.
The two teams had battled through 90 scoreless minutes of regulation time and a 10 minute scoreless first overtime. Westfield held a 27-14 edge in total shots, but the Owls put just seven shots on goal, all saved by Bears' netminder Kellie Souza (Wilmington, Mass.).
Among many chances, the Owls' best opportunity came with 5:05 left in the second overtime period, as Jenn Rennich (Bedford, Mass.) rifled a shot off the crossbar from 20 yards out on the right side, and then Marissa McGue's (Quincy, Mass.) follow up shot sailed wide right.
Westfield had had a flurry of attacking play just prior to the Bridgewater goal, with Marissa Jacob's (Jefferson, Mass.) shot from 18 yards out missing wide right.
After an Owls foul, the Bears sent a long free kick forward to Cassie Brown (Augusta, Maine) near midfield, who then fed the ball to Vincent to start the winning series.
Westfield State freshman goalkeeper Lauryn Davis (Templeton, Mass.) finished with four saves.
The two teams were meeting in the semifinals for the fourth straight season. Two of the previous three matches had gone to penalty kicks in the evenly-matched series.
Westfield State's season ends with an 11-6-1 record.