WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass.) and first-year Tia Tollis (East Longmeadow, Mass.) both scored twice to lead the Owls to a 6-0 victory over Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference match from Alumni Field on Friday night.
Both teams concluded their regular season schedules after tonight's result, with the Owls improving to 11-6-1 on the season and 6-1 in conference action. The Vikings drop to 4-11-2 overall and 3-4 in league play. Westfield will own the second overall seed in the MASCAC Tournament. Salem will receive the fourth overall seed.
The Owls opened the scoring at the 21:15 mark with Parker tapping a pass back to a crashing Tollis who's initial shot was blocked by a Vikings defender with the rebound ricocheting back to Tollis who delivered another strike towards the goal that beat Salem keeper Lily Pfefferle (St. Paul, Minn.) to the short side of the net.
Westfield doubled the lead inside the 31st minute as Kiki McNary (Dummerston, Vt.) crossed a ball into the middle of the box, setting up Parker who managed to tap a shot low and away from Pfefferle to make it 2-0 Owls.
Shortly after the Owls second goal, the Vikings generated their best scoring opportunity of the night with Kylie Phillips (Saugus, Mass.) heading a deflected ball just wide of the net, keeping the game at 2-0.
The Owls tacked on a third goal in the closing minutes of the first half with Jenna Hurlburt (Kingston, Mass.) launching a free kick downfield from the attacking 45-yard line which was nicely controlled by Ryan Moran (Manchester, N.H.) who turned and directed a shot to the far post to give Westfield a 3-0 lead entering halftime.
Westfield put the game out of reach early in the second half, rattling off three goals in the first five minutes of the period. Tollis initiated the fourth score, lofting a pass downfield which was tracked down by Kiana Murastuka (Mililani, Hawaii) who positioned a pass to the feet of Parker in the middle of the box where she deposited her league-leading 15th goal of the season.
Four minutes after the Parker tally, Parker and Muratsuka provided helpers on Tollis' second goal of the night, as the first-year midfielder picked up her eighth tally of the season, leading all rookies in the MASCAC.
The scoring frenzy continued a minute after the Tollis goal, this time with Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) firing home her fourth goal of the season from the top of the penalty area.
Pfefferle delivered a quality outing for the Vikings, who were outshot 39-4 in the contest. The Vikings keeper racked up 17 saves on the night. Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) secured her seventh win of the season, playing the first half of the match before turning the contest over to Kayla Santucci (Agawam, Mass.) and Michaella Moncecchi (Windsor, Mass.)
Both teams will await their next opponent for the upcoming MASCAC Tournament. The Owls will receive a first-round bye and play on Friday, November 3 from Alumni Field with an opponent and time still to be determined. Salem State will host a first-round matchup on Tuesday with the opponent and time to be announced.