After defeating their semifinal opponents on Friday, top seed Bridgewater State and second seed Westfield State are set to face off on Sunday for the 2023 MASCAC Women's Soccer Championship.

#2 Westfield State 3, #3 Worcester State 2   Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. -  Westfield State junior forward Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass./Mahar) scored a pair of goals and Kiana Muratsuka (Mililani, Hawaii) handed out three assists as Westfield State held off Worcenster State, 3-2 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference semifinals at Alumni Field on Friday afternoon.

With the win, Westfield advances to Sunday's championship game to play the winner of tonight's other semifinal round game, as top seed Bridgewater hosts Fitchburg State at 7:00 p.m. tonight.  Sunday's title game time and site will be determined following tonight's second semifinal.

Westfield will be seeking their third straight conference tournament title an it's 10^th under 18^th year head coach Todd Ditmar.

Second-seeded Westfield is now 12-6-1overall in the season, while third-seed Worcester State's year comes to a close at 6-9-2.

Westfield took command early in the match as Parker launched a left-footed blast from the top left corner of the 18 just 6:10 into the match. Owls' goalkeeper Julia Robak's (Chicopee, Mass./Comp) punt sailed to midfield where Muratsuka tapped the ball to Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass./Douglas) , who slotted a long through ball to Parker to set up the goal.

Westfield grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 23^rd minute as the Owls took advantage when a pair of Worcester State defenders collided while going after a header, that let Muratsaka tap a back pass to Berthiaume, who loaded up a blast from 25 yards out on the left side to the far post for the goal.

Westfield outshot the Lancers 10-4 in the first half.

Worcester trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the 54^th minute when Abby Bond (Bolton, Mass./Nashoba) slotted a long through ball to Erin Condon (E. Bridgewater, Mass.), who fired through traffic and beat Robak to her right for the goal.

Westfield regained the two-goal cushion midway through the second half, getting good buildup from the midfield as Maratsuka sent the ball ahead on the left side to Tia Tollis (E. Longmeadow, Mass.), who found Parked alone on the right side, where she beat Worcester goalkeeper Ella Gumienny (Douglas, Mass./Blackstone Valley) with a high shot to make the Owls lead 3-1.

Parker leads the MASCAC with 17 goals and 10 assists for 44 points this season.   Her 17 goals and 44 points are both the sixth-best single season totals in program history.

The Lancers never surrendered.  After a restart that an Owls' header failed to clear, Emma Jacob (Billerica, Mass.) centered a pass from the left side to Condon, unmarked on the penalty spot, and she slid a shot into the left side of the net to cut the lead back to 3-2 with just over 12 minutes left in the match.

Worcester pressed late to try to equalize but couldn't get a tying goal.

Westfield's Muratsuka lofted a high shot from 40 yards out that ricocheted off the top of the cross bar with about 5 minutes left that could have put the game away.  Worcester played a long through ball that Robak smothered at the top of the penalty area in final 20 seconds to preserve the win for Westfield.

Robak finished with three saves for the Owls, while Gumienny stopped five shots for the Lancers.

Westfield held a 17-9 edge in total shots, while corner kicks were even at three each.

#1 Bridgewater State 2, #5 Fitchburg State 0    Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University advanced to the championship game of the 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Soccer Tournament as the top-seeded Bears blanked #5 seed Fitchburg State University, 2-0, in the semifinal round on Friday night at Mazzaferro Field.

The Bears (11-5-1) advance to the MASCAC Championship Game for the first time since 2019 and 13th time in program history. Bridgewater will host #2 seed Westfield State University on Sunday afternoon at four o'clock. Westfield edged #3 seed Worcester State University in the other semifinal round matchup, 3-2, earlier today.

The Falcons end the season with an overall record of 4-11-4.

Senior forward Audra McDuffie (Millbury, Mass.) converted a penalty kick to stake the Bears to the 1-0 lead in the 26th minute. Sophomore forward Olivia Robarge (Pepperell, Mass.) drew the PK as she was taken down in the box. The goal marked the fourth of the season for McDuffie.

Fitchburg freshman netminder Madison Dawkins (Haverhill, Mass.) made an outstanding diving stop of a point-blank range shot by Robarge in the 34th minute to keep it a one-goal game.

The Bears also had a goal called back due to an offside in the 69th minute.

Less than a minute after the offside call, Robarge gave the hosts a 2-0 lead with her sixth marker of the 2023 campaign. Coming in from the right side, Robarge beat a defender one-on-one and ripped a tough angle shot that went through the goalie's hand and rolled into the back of the net.

Bridgewater held a 16-5 shot advantage for the game as well as a 3-1 edge in corner kick attempts.

BSU sophomore goalkeeper Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) was forced to make just one save to record her tenth win of the season and sixth solo shutout.

Dawkins finished with nine saves in the setback for the Falcons.

Releases courtesy of Bridgewater State and Westfield State Sports Information