For the second straight year, the Westfield State Owls and Worcester State Lancers will meet up for the MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament Championship when they play on Sunday at Noon. The two squads advanced to the championship after winning their respective semifinal games on Friday.

Westfield State 0, Bridgewater State 0 PKs (Westfield) Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Taylor Grijalva's penalty kick on the fifth and final kick of the PK sequence allowed Westfield State to advance to the MASCAC championship game with a 4-3 margin in the penalty kicks after the Owls and Bridgewater State played 110 scoreless minutes through regulation and two 10-minute halves of overtime.

Grijalva fired to the right side of the net to beat Bridgewater goalkeeper Lauren DeSousa for the winner.

After a scoreless first half, Westfield generated the better of the pressure in the second half.  The Owls earned a direct kick with 40 seconds left in regulation that Kenzie Saltmarsh served to Nicole Gay, but Gay's header went just wide.

Bridgewater's best scoring opportunity of the match came in the 84^th minute as Westfield's Ashley  Bovat tried to slip a pass through the midfield that inadvertently deflected off the referee to the Bears Ashley Aldred.  Aldred played the ball through to Courtney Pepin who drilled a shot from 15 yards out on the right side that Falcone deflected just over the crossbar.

The Owls earned a strong scoring chance in the closing minutes of the first half of overtime as Bovat's clean header from the top of the six-yard box sailed just over the crossbar.

Bovat had another strong try in the second half of OT, sliding in with a shot at the left post at point blank range that DeSousa came up with a save on to keep the score even at 0-0 and ultimately send the game to kicks.

Westfield State freshman goalkeeper Natalia Falcone, who entered the game at halftime, came up huge in the shootout, stopping one Bridgewater shot, then stepping up as a shooter herself on the fourth shot and scoring. 

Caitlin MacGregor, Kate Matroni, Falcone and Grijalva converted in the PK's with only Bovat's shot, the third of the Owls' tries being saved by DeSousa.

For Bridgewater, Brooke Pacheco scored on the first PK, and Carolyn Sessler on the second, but Olivia Planty's shot was stopped by Falcone, and then Drew Guay's attempt ricocheted high off the crossbar, before Alyson Pontes converted the fifth shot to set up Grijalva's dramatics.

Westfield (10-6-2) will advance to Sunday's championship match to be played at noon at top seed Worcester State.

Bridgewater is eliminated from the MASCAC tournament with a 10-8-1 overall record.

Shots on goal for the match finished even at five per team. Westfield generated six corners to Bridgewater's one.  Falcone finished with four saves for Westfield, while DeSousa stopped all five shots she faced.

Worcester State 3, Framingham State 0 Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – After a scoreless first half, the Worcester State Lancers came out striking in the second, as senior Alicia Macomber (Stoughton, Mass.) freshman Nikki DiPilla (Sterling, Mass.), and junior Kendal Bergenholtz (Grafton, Mass.) came through with three Lancers goals for the 3-0 win in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) semifinal game against the Framingham State Rams on Friday (Nov. 6) at John F. Coughlin Field.

The Lancers will continue onto the MASCAC Championship game on Sunday (Nov. 8) at John F. Coughlin Field, as they will square up against Westfield State for a 12 p.m. game time. Framingham State's season came to a conclusion tonight, as they marked an 11-7-2 winning record on the 2015 season.

Possession in the first half was pretty equal as Framingham State tallied six shots, and Worcester State totaled five. The Rams were the first of the two to take a shot on the night as junior defender, Angela Pallotta (Sterling, Mass.) took a free kick on the right side, about 30-yards out, and placed the ball on goal. Though, Worcester State's goaltender, Jillian Witkowski (Leicester, Mass.), made a great stop for her first save on the night.

Worcester State powered back with a direct kick from Macomber, but the shot was just wide. Each team had other opportunities to score in the first half, but the defense was strong and didn't permit either team to put a number up on the scoreboard.

After halftime, the Lancers came out firing just a minute in, when freshman forward Jenna Martin(Salem, N.H.) arched the ball in the air, and Macomber was able to get a touch and shot on goal about 15-yards out. Macomber drilled the ball into the top left corner of the net and gave the Lancers the 1-0 lead.

Just one minute later, in the 47^th minute, DiPilla found herself with Framingham State's goalie down and an open goal central 15-yards out. She was able to take a shot on an open goal and place the Lancers up 2-0 on the Rams.

In the 77^th minute, the Lancers widened their lead with an unassisted goal by Bergenhotlz. Bergenholtz dribbled down the left side of the field and snuck a ball past Framingham's senior goalkeeper, Sara Sullivan (Quincy, Mass.) to close the game out with a 3-0 win.

Witkowski recorded her 10^th win of the season and registered seven saves on the night. Sullivan took the loss for the Rams, as she logged six saves in her 90 minutes of play.

Palotta led the Rams in shots with four on goal, while Bergenholtz led the Lancers with four (two on goal).

Courtesy of Westfield State and Worcester State Sports Information