SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton parlayed an early goal into a 3-0 win over Westfield State in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Weiss Field on Sunday afternoon.
Scranton improves to 17-2-2 and will go back to the 'sweet sixteen' round of the tournament for a second straight season. Westfield's season concludes 16-4-1, as the Owls matched the second-best season win total in program history
"Very proud of the girls," said Westfield State head coach Todd Ditmar. " We did compete with them, but you can't make mistakes against great teams, and we made a couple mistakes that hurt us, but I like the fact that we had a bunch of offensive chances, and we nearly got a goal at the end – their goalie made a great save."
Scranton got on the board first just 2:50 into the first half of play, with a blast from Niamh Healey from the top left corner of the penalty area that looped under the back upper 90 for a 1-0 lead.
"It was huge," said Ditmar about the difference the early goal made in the game. "There was a let down when we did that. We just encouraged everyone to play harder, and we did play hard the whole game.
"It kind of got in our heads a little bit, but we've been down before and we try to work through it and today it just didn't work out for us," said Owls grad student forward Jenn Rennich.
Westfield took about 10 minutes to settle into the match and generate some offensive pressure of their own. The Owls' first good chance of the match came in the 15th minute as Marissa Jacob took a through ball from Morgan Berthiaume and slid a shot just wide of the right post.
The Royals boosted their lead to 2-0 as Emily Tantana won possession the defensive end, and one-touched a ball past an Owls defender, then slotted a long through ball down the right side. Samantha Goffice was able to run onto it, running parallel to the side of penalty area, before ripping a perfect low shot just inside the left post that just eluded the dive of Owls goalkeeper Lauryn Davis.
Westfield's best chance of the first half came with the clock winding down, as Jenn Rennich beat a defender and hit a shot to the right post, where Scranton goalkeeper Nicole Olsen made a diving save, but the ball trickled through her hands and across the end line for a corner. But with just five seconds left in the half, the Owls did not have time to get the awarded corner off before the haltime horn.
Scranton had an apparent counter attack goal by Healy waved off just two minutes into the second half as the linesman raised the offsides flag.
Julia Robak relieved Davis in goal with 27 minutes left to play and instantly made a save on a strong shot from Healy.
Scranton added their third goal on set piece after a foul just outside the penalty area on the left side. Mary Haggerty hit a driven ball that Theresa Hegerty headed into the short side as she held position on her defender with 24:52 left.
"They passed the ball really well," said Rennich. "They were really good, and we were really tired from last night. It was tough."
Both teams played overtime games in the first round of the tournament just 24 hours earlier, as Westfield emerged with a 2-1 win over Emerson, and Scranton needed penalty kicks to advance against Bowdoin.
Play stopped with 16:23 left in the match as snow and sleet hit Weiss Field in a sudden burst, setting off the complex's weather siren. Officials cleared the field and sent the teams to the locker rooms, but once it was determined there was no lightning in the area, the teams returned just 12 minutes later to resume play as the sleet subsided.
Rennich broke in to the Scranton offensive end with 11 minutes left and had nearly a mirror-image attempt as in the first half, shooting to the right post, which was saved by Olsen and yielded a corner-kick try for Westfield. Olsen finished with five saves in goal for the Royals.
Asked about getting to the second round of the tournament, Ditmar said "It's a great experience – we had a lot of new players get in the game, Julia got some experience at the end, and great careers for our seniors. I just couldn't be prouder overall."
Scranton had a number of attacking chances late, but Robak stood her ground in goal to finish with four saves. Davis made three saves in her 62 minutes of play. The duo had split time in net this season as Davis missed significant time at midseason due to an injury before returning to the starting role late in the year.
Scranton finished with a 10-4 edge in shots on goal, though they got off 25 total shots to the Owls' eight. The Royals had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks and were whistled for five offsides calls.
Westfield expects to graduate seniors Jenna Hurlburt, Kylee Murphy, Mary Kate McAleavey, Jen Diamond and Keira Bergeron along with Jacob, Davis and Rennich.
"Freshman year, my only goal was to win an NCAA game, and we did it,' said Rennich, brimming with emotion. "The season was everything I ever asked for, and I'm so grateful that I had an opportunity to come back and that it was this incredible."
Rennich finishes her career as the Owls all-time leader in points (145) and assists (45), and second in career goals (50), just one shy of the school's career mark.
It's an "Amazing season," said Ditmar. "We set goals at the beginning of the season and anytime you can achieve your goals, win the conference, and play tough games – we were 9-0 in our conference, and then we came here and said 'let's finally win a game' and the girls did it, and they played awesome against a great team too. Every team you get at the NCAA tournament is a great team, so it's always hard."
Westfield was making it's ninth appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Owls advanced to the second round for just the second time. The Owls also advanced in 2011, but needed a penalty kick shootout to do so against Stevens Institute of Technology, with the official result of the game a 1-1 draw.
Scranton advances to next weekend's sweet 16 round, where they will face national #1 Misericordia (Pa.) at a site that will be determined on Monday.
