Murphy's OT Goal Lifts Owls Past Eastern Conn., 2-1

WESTFIELD, Mass. –   Westfield State junior forward Skyla Harthcock (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) scored one goal, then assisted on Kaleigh Murphy's (Pembroke, Mass.) game-winner as the Owls escaped Eastern Connecticut State, 2-1 in overtime in a Little East Conference Field Hockey matchup at Alumni Field on Saturday.

Murphy found the backboard with the game winner with 47 seconds left in the first overtime.  Westfield's Bre Foley started the play with a long lead pass out of the back to Harthcock, who broke in clean on Eastern netminder Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor, Conn.) on the left side, forcing Gallagher to come out and challenge. Harthock slid a pass across to Murphy at the last second, and Murphy calmly passed the ball into the back of the cage to give Westfield the win.

Westfield improves to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the LEC, while Eastern is now 5-8 and 2-6 in the conference.

Eastern Connecticut got on the scoreboard first, with 10:01 left in the first quarter, scoring as Aly Kendrick (N. Branford, Conn.) deflected Liz LaMarco's (W. Hartford/Conard) shot from the top of the circle into the net on the remnants of a Warriors' penalty corner.

Eastern carried the better of the run of play early in the game.  Westfield answered in the second quarter, getting off eight shots to the Warriors two in the frame.  The Owls best chance came midway through the period on a penalty corner as Lily Spencer (S. Deerfield, Mass.) and Emily Martin (Southwick, Mass.) got off back-to-back shots, both saved by Gallagher.

Gallagher came up big in the third quarter, again thwarting the Owls as she dove to her right to save a shot from Westfield Sarah Richard to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Westfield finally leveled the game at 1-1 in the 53^rd minute of play, as Westfield's Martin fired a shot through traffic that was trickling towards the goal line before Harthcock dove in from the left post to push the ball across the line for the goal.

The Owls controlled the overtime period, getting off four shots to the Warriors none, as the Owls' depth appeared to become a distinct advantage as the 7-v-7 overtime period wore on.

Gallagher finished with eight saves for the Warriors, while Emma Gniadek (Worcester, Mass/Doherty) needed to make just two saves for Westfield.   The Owls out-shot the Warriors 19-7 in total shots, but held just a 7-6 advantage in penalty corners.

Westfield will next travel to Framingham State for a Little East Conference game on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m., while Eastern Connecticut will travel to Western Connecticut for a 4:00 p.m. league matchup on Tuesday.