WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield state senior forward Ryan Della Penna (Enfield, Conn/Suffield HS) scored the game winner in overtime and added an assist to lead the Owls to a 3-2 win over Bridgewater State University in a MASCAC men's soccer match at Alumni Field on Saturday.
Della Penna ran on to Noel Powell's (Lee, Mass./Monument Mountain) cross eight minutes into overtime and buried it at the back post to lift the Owls to the win. Westfield levels its conference record at 1-1, while Bridgewater slips to 1-7-1 overall and 1-1 in the MASCAC. Westfield beat the Bears for the first time since the 2012 season.
After a scoreless opening half in which the Owls controlled the early flow of play, Westfield struck twice in the early stages of the second half to grab a 2-0 lead.
After the Owls repeatedly probed the Bridgewater back line, Della Penna crossed the ball from the left side and found Paul Soucy (Acushnet/Old Colony) unmarked on the far side, where he ran on to the ball and easily lofted the ball into the wide open net for a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute.
Westfield took a 2-0 lead 12 minutes later as Ryan Morias (Uxbridge, Mass.) knocked home the rebound of his own shot.
Bridgewater responded by elevating their work rate in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
The Bears cut the lead to 2-1 in the 76th minute when Patrick Gildea (Bridgewater/Cardinal Spellman) tallied off the rebound of his on saved shot, then less than 2 minutes later Hatim Brahimi's (Franklin, Mass.) shot deflected off of an Owls defender in a scrum on front of the net, and skipped to Kevin Roberts (Medway) on the right side who slid a shot in to tie the match.
In the extra session, Westfield's Powell then beat his man on the left side and sent a low cross across the goal mouth that Bridgewater goalkeeper Nate Morgardo (Dartmouth, Mass.) could not garner with a diving attempt, and Della Penna was in the right place to capitalize for the game winner.
Westfield State goalkeeper Tyler Diotalevi (Ludlow, Mass.) finished with nine saves, while Morgardo made four stops for Bridgewater.
Total shots in the match were relatively level with 18 for Bridgewater and 16 for Westfield, while the Owls held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.