Owls, Castleton Play to 1-1 Tie on Tuesday

Coleby Andrade (Falmouth, Mass.) scored less than a minute into the match to give Westfield State a 1-0 lead early but the Owls couldn't make it stand up as Castleton's Kyle Toby Ritzkowski  (Arlington, Mass.) scored on a penalty kick in the 88^th minute to give the Spartans a 1-1 draw with the Owls in a non-conference men's soccer match at Alumni Field on Tuesday afternoon.

Westfield is now 5-6-5 on the season, while Castleton moves to 6-6-4.

Just 47 seconds into the match, Westfield's Matthew Elmasian (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug) played a long ball ahead for Andrade, who was in 1-on-1 with Castleton goalie Xander Berthiaume (Colchester, Vt.) and beat him to the low right corner for the 1-0 Westfield lead.

Westfield had a chance to extend the lead let in the first half, when Ryan Viana (Framingham, Mass.) broke in on the left side, but his shot to the back post was cleared off the line by Castleton's Rocco Gomes (Woburn, Mass.) to keep the lead at 1-0.

The two teams battled through a relatively even second half, but the Spartans finally had the chance to even the game with 1:48 left, as Westfield was called for a hard foul in the penalty area on a corner kick try and the referee instantly pointed to the penalty spot for the kick.

Ritzkowski stepped up for the penalty kick and delivered it low to the left side for the game-tying goal.   

Westfield pressed in the final seconds, with Ryan Denehy (Littleton, Mass.) getting off a low hard shot from the top of the 18 which was blocked by a Castleton defender as time expired.

Westfield's Luke Theroux (Chicopee, Mass.) made five saves, while Castleton's Bethiaume finished with eight saves.

Westfield will return to conference play this weekend, travelling to Bridgewater State for a 12 noon match on Saturday.