Bridgewater State and Framingham State Advance to MASCAC Women's Soccer Semifinals
After winning their quarterfinal contests on Tuesday night, Bridgewater State and Framingham State are advancing to the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament.
Bridgewater State 1, Salem State 1 (BSU won 4-2 on penalty kicks) Box Score
Courtesy of Salem State Sports Information
Salem, Mass. -- In the first round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) playoffs, the #5 seed Bears of Bridgewater State used penalty kicks to advance past the Salem State Vikings to advance to the MASCAC semifinal on Friday against # 1 seed Worcester State. Bridgewater State's Emily Lane (Parsonfield, ME) recorded the deciding goal as the Bears edged Salem State 4-3 in the shootout.
The game, which ended in a 1-1 tie, was controlled by the home team Vikings early on. Salem State's strongest chance to score came when Allison Celia (Hopkinton, MA) headed the ball off a corner kick, but it deflected off the crossbar, keeping the game scoreless. The Bears had several of their own scoring opportunities, but Rachel Ledbetter (Dracut, MA) was impressive in net for Salem State, making five saves. The half would end in a 0-0 tie.
The Vikings dominated possession in the second half, and limited the Bears to just two shots before Kara Digiacomo (Peabody, MA) put the Vikings up when she blasted a free kick from the midline that bounced over Bridgewater goalie Kristin Reardon's (Weymouth, MA) head and into the back of the net in the 79th minute. However, with less than three minutes remaining in the game, the Bears countered when Allison LeBel's (Milis, MA) shot bounced over Ledbetter, who had come out of the net, to tie the game.
In the first overtime, Digiacomo almost won it for the Vikings when she just missed on a free kick, hitting the crossbar. Later, Ledbetter made a tremendous save on the Bears' Mackenzie Hatfield (Whitman, MA), who had a breakaway opportunity, but was, stuffed by Ledbetter from 10 yards out.
The Vikings' Ledbetter had six saves while Reardon stopped 10 shots.
Framingham State 1, MCLA 0 Box Score
Courtesy of Framingham State Sports Information
Framingham, Mass. – Framingham State University senior Marisa Parent (Revere, MA) scored twenty minutes into the match to lead the Rams past MCLA in the first-round of the 2014 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament. The Rams advance to play #2 seeded Westfield State on Friday evening in the semi-final round.
In the twentieth minute Parent sent a corner kick bending towards the inside post, after a scramble in front of the net the play was ruled a good goal to put the Rams on the board. Parent was awarded with the goal, her 17th of the season and 51st of her career.
Parent's goal was the lone score in the otherwise fairly lopsided affair. The Rams defense held the Trailblazers to six shots while taking 22 attempts on net.
MCLA's best chance to score was with 31 minutes remaining when sophomore Nicole Zacchio (Cairo, NY/ Cairo-Durham) headed a ball that was swatted down by the Framingham goalkeeper Sara Sullivan (Quincy, MA/ North Quincy) and smothered to end the threat.
Sullivan made 2 saves in net for the Rams and sophomore Kathryn Daly (South Cairo, NY/ Cairo-Durham) made five saves in ninety minutes for the Trailblazers.
The Rams travel to Westfield State to play the MASCAC semi-final round on Friday, November 7th at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will play in the championship round at the highest remaining seed.