Women's Soccer Holds Off Eastern, 3-2

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  Westfield State University got a goal and an assist from Kiana Muratsuka (Millilani, Hi.) as the Owls featured three different goal scorers in a 3-2, non-conference women's soccer win over Eastern Connecticut State University at Alumni Field on Wednesday night.

Westfield ran out to a 3-0 lead in the match perhaps gaining momentum as they started their entire senior class for tonight's match.   The Owls got on the board first in the 27^th minute when Tia Tollis (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) gathered a loose ball and toe-poked a pass through the Eastern defense to Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.), who converted for a 1-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Muratsuka slotted a long thru-ball down the left side, sending Delaney Parker (Orange, Conn.) in to score from a sharp angle on the left side of the field.

Muratsuka added her goal in the 60^th minute, dancing through multiple defenders on the left side of the penalty area with some fancy footwork before lifting a shot to the back post and a 3-0 Owls lead.

Playing with a greater sense of urgency after being out-shot 10-5 in the opening half on total shots and held without a shot on net, the Warriors tallied their first marker of the game on a pretty goal as Katelyn Hebert (Bethpage, N.Y.) rifled a pass knee high from the deep right corner that Olivia Mullings ((Newington, Conn.) cleanly volleyed back to the right side netting to trim the lead to 3-1 about a minute after Muratsuka's goal.

The Warriors hung in contention in the late stages, and trimmed the lead to 3-2 as Sarah Orzolek (Bolton, Conn.) crossed the ball from the left side to Keira Rogers (Portmouth, RI) near the top of the penalty area and Rogers slipped a shot through traffic with 7:42 left in the match.

Westfield's Sarah Fuller (Weymouth, Mass.) went the distance in goal to earn the win while making a pair of saves, while Eastern split the game in goal with Kaeden Dublin (Maple Grove, Minn.) making three saves in the first half and Alex Ignatowicz (Coventry, Conn.) stopping five shots in the second.

Westfield improves to 2-3-2 on the season, while Eastern is now 2-4.

Westfield State will be back in action on Saturday, with their first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference match of the season at Mass Maritime.

Eastern will next host the University of Southern Maine in a Little East Conference matchup on Saturday.