Owls Wallop Falcons on Senior Day, 17-4

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Six different Owls scored multiple goals as Westfield State women's lacrosse wrapped up the regular season with a 17-4 victory over Fitchburg State on Senior Day from Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls (9-8, 6-1 MASCAC), which had already secured the second overall seed in the MASCAC tournament, will earn a first-round bye and will host a conference semifinal game on Thursday at 7:00 P.M. with the opponent to be determined from first round games which will be held on Tuesday. The Falcons drop to 3-4 in the conference and 8-9 on the season and will serve as the fifth seed in the MASCAC tournament.

Marena Morales (Tolland, Conn.) got the Owls off to a fast start, scoring twice and assisting on the third goal to begin the game. After a flurry of shots where Falcons goalkeeper Caitlin Persson made five straight saves, Morales broke through on the Owls sixth shot, breaking down a Fitchburg defender at the top of the penalty area before launching a shot on net which was deflected off a stick and in for a 1-0 lead.

Morales assisted on the next tally with eight left in the opening quarter, dishing a feed to Bri McPhillips (Montgomery, N.Y.) who sliced between two defenders and ripped a high shot into the cage for an early 2-0 advantage. The lead grew to three goals as Shea O'Brien (Ipswich, Mass.) found a cutting Morales who blasted another high shot past Persson.

Fitchburg got on the board after Persson catapulted a long pass up field which was tracked down by Jessica St. George who spun towards the frame and let go a shot to trim the deficit to two.

Westfield pulled further ahead by netting three consecutive goals, the first from Christina Roncarati (East Longmeadow, Mass.) who was able to get off a shot after three defenders collapsed around her, pushing a shot into the upper corner. Emily Heslin (Wrentham, Mass.) scored 1:10 into the second quarter, teeing up a point-blank attempt past Persson, then she assisted on the next marker by setting up Mercedes Rozzi (South Burlington, Vt.) who slashed inside and scored to make it a 6-1 Owls lead with 11:56 remaining in the half.

St. George scored her second goal of the game for Fitchburg to temporarily halt the run, but three more goals from Heslin and two by Brooke Oliveri (Somers, Conn.) drove the Owls lead up to seven goals heading into halftime. The Owls outshot the Falcons 19-9 in the opening 30 minutes, forcing 15 Fitchburg turnovers with Rozzi generating three caused turnovers.

Samantha Azzari got the scoring started in the second half just 55 seconds into action, cutting the deficit to six goals before the Owls peppered goalie Dakin Kovatch who subbed in to begin the second half. Rozzi started the multitude of scoring chances by ringing the pipe, resulting in an eventual free position shot from Roncarati which was saved by Kovatch. The ball kicked loose to Oliveri which initiated three more scoring chances, two of which were stopped by Kovatch. After the third shot in the span, Heslin was awarded a free position opportunity which she converted for a 10-3 lead.

Off the ensuing draw win for Westfield, Oliveri notched her third goal of the day, then a caused turnover forced by Arianna Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) led to a goal by Roncarati, extending the lead to nine goals with 6:21 left in the third period.

The game moved into running time after a goal by McPhillips with 2:07 left in the third. The Falcons would grab a fourth goal on Azzari's second of the afternoon to start the fourth but Roncarati's third marker with 11:59 to go initiated the running clock and a 14-4 lead.

Both goalies for Fitchburg put forth strong efforts in net. Persson stopped 50 percent of her shots in the first half with nine saves while Kovatch added nine saves in the second half. Izzy Conley (North Salem, N.Y.) stopped six shots on goal, giving way to Lexi Emanuele (Griswold, Conn.) in the fourth quarter. Westfield held a lopsided 42-13 shots advantage and owned a 16-7 edge in draws.

Roncarati, Heslin, and Oliveri all scored three times for Westfield while Morales, Rozzi, and McPhillips scored twice. Rozzi won five draws, pushing her over the 100 career mark.

Prior to the start of today's game, Westfield State athletics honored the Owls six senior and graduate players: Arianna Andresen, Izzy Conley, Beth Crahan, Erin Dyckman, Christina Roncarati, and Mercedes Rozzi.

The Owls also paid tribute to Falcons head coach Rick Terrio who coached in his final MASCAC regular season contest and has been at the helm for Fitchburg for 19 years.

Stay tuned to WestfieldStateOwls.com to see who the Owls will be playing on Thursday night.