Owls Clinch 10th MASCAC Tournament Title, 2-1 Over Bridgewater

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass.) delivered the game-winning goal with 24 minutes left in regulation to lift the Owls to a 2-1, come from behind win over top-seeded Bridgewater State in the 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game at Mazzaferro Field in Bridgewater on Sunday afternoon.

Westfield earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament with the win.

For Westfield, it's the Owls third straight, and 10^th overall MASCAC tournament title, all coming in the last 16 years under current Owls head coach Todd Ditmar.

"It shows how old I am," joked Ditmar.  "I think we have talented players, they all have good attitudes and it makes it easy to coach them.  Players just want the opportunity  to get on the  field and show how good they are."

Westfield fell behind on a fluky first goal from the Bears just 6:38 into the match.  Granted a free kick from near midfield, Bridgewater's Sydney Dewhurst launched a long ball into the penalty area which appeared to be misjudged by Owls GK Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass./Comp), who slipped a bit while changing direction to come off her line, and the ball skipped into the right side of the goal on one hop. 

"We wanted to start strong and play good possession, and I was worried we could take a step back after the early goal," said Ditmar. "Bridgewater is an intimidating team, Dewhurst is a force, and we were like 'oh no!'"

Westfield had several good chances to level the match before the half, but a long shot from Parker was saved by Bears 'keeper Logan Levesque in the 22^nd minute, then in the 24^th minute Emily Ottomaniello's (Agawam, Mass.) header off of a free kick was saved.

Dewhurst had another good attack up middle of the Owls' defense before the break, but her shot from top of box was saved by Robak to keep the deficit at one.

"We put some good pressure on, but were attacking straight on, needed to attack from the wings and try to move their goalkeeper," said Ditmar.   "At the half we talked about changing formation, but the players wanted to keep with it and said it was working."

Tournament MVP Kiana Muratsuka (Mililani, Hawaii) got the Owls on the board, and leveled the game at 1-1 with a free kick blast from 31 yards out, well-placed over the wall and into top left corner of the goal off the hands of goalkeeper Levesque, 7:18 into the second half.

"After Kiana got the goal, you could see that they were more anxious and we were more relaxed, that was huge momentum change," said Ditmar.  "I think it really helped to see we could get one past their goalie, who is really good, and our players stepped up and believed in themselves, and our bench was supportive and positive throughout."

Parker's game winner came with 24:19 left to play, as Muratsaka deflected a Bears' attempt to clear the ball, and the high arching deflection wound up on the right side of the penalty area.   Muratsuka beat a Bears defender to the ball and slipped it left to Parker, who dribbled through traffic from the right side across the top of the goalkeeper's box and whistled it to the left upper 90 for the goal and the 2-1 Owls' lead.

Westfield's best chance for an insurance goal came when Tia Tollis (East Longmeadow, Mass.)  juked a defender but fired a shot just over the top of the crossbar with just under 14 minutes left.   Westfield kept the offensive pressure on the Bears for the entirety of the second half.

Bridgewater's best chance to level the game late came when Dewhurst ripped a shot from the top of the penalty area, but her was blast was blocked point blank by Owls' defender Jaida Cochran (Middleboro, Mass.) with 3.5 minutes left in the game.

Westfield outshot the Bears 13-3 overall in the second half, and the Owls didn't allow any shots on goal in the half.

Westfield is now 13-6-1.  The Owls will learn their destination and opponent in the NCAA tournament on Monday, when the selection show is streamed at NCAA.com at 1:30 p.m.

Bridgewater's season comes to an end at 11-6-1.

Westfield entered the game as the number two seed.  The Owls' lone loss of the conference season came two weeks ago at the feet of the Bears, by a 2-1 final in a game where Westfield had out-shot Bridgewater 23-11.

Today, Westfield out-shot the Bears 23-8 overall and 11-3 in shots on goal.   The Owls also recorded four corner kicks to none for Bridgewater.

Levesque finished with nine saves for the Bears, while Robak made three saves for Westfield.