Parker Tops 200-Career Point Mark, Owls Coast Past Falcons 5-1

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior forward Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass.) scored two goals with the first serving as her 200^th career point as the Owls cruised to a 5-1 victory over Fitchburg State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls, playing in the first of two events from Alumni Field as part of Homecoming Weekend, improve to 8-3-4 on the season and remain unbeaten in the league at 5-0. The Falcons now own a 1-10-3 overall record and a 1-3-1 mark in the MASCAC.

Westfield jumped out to a two-goal lead in a dominant first half where the Owls outshot the Falcons 13-1. The scoring began in the 19^th minute as Paige Brandt (Woodbury, Conn.) crossed a pass into the center of the box to a crashing Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) who tucked a low shot past Madison Dawkins (Haverhill, Mass.) for the 1-0 lead.

History struck 27:28 into the match as Kiana Muratsuka (Mililani, Hawaii) lofted a pass from the midfield line to Parker who ran a 20-yard dash to the ball, fending off a Falcons defender before placing a shot to the lower left side of the net for the goal and her 200^th career point.

Parker set up the Owls third goal of the game just 3:20 into the second half, drawing a foul in the box to generate a penalty kick opportunity for Muratsuka who deposited the PK into the bottom right of the net for a three-goal advantage.

Adrianna Westcott (Sayreville, N.J.) trimmed the Falcons deficit to two goals less than a minute after the Muratsuka penalty try. Charlotte Meixsell (Boxford, Mass.) directed a shot on goal that was saved by Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) with the ball rebounding to Delia Fitzgerald (Foxboro, Mass.) who drilled the crossbar. The ball then bounced once, then was headed home by Westcott in a crowd of bodies in what served as the Falcons top scoring threat of the afternoon.

Despite the Fitchburg goal, the Owls controlled the remainder of the game starting with Parker who converted the game's third goal in a three-minute span. Muratsuka threaded a pass up field to a wide-open Parker who finished her second goal of the match and 19^th goal of the season, opening up a 4-1 lead.

Muratsuka put the finishing touches on the scoring with 11 minutes left in the game, bending a corner kick past the near-side post and into the net. Muratsuka scored or assisted on four of the five goals for the Owls in the contest.

Robak (W, 5-3-2) secured her fifth victory of the season, making two saves on a day in which the Owls outshot the Falcons 31-7. Dawkins and Cassandra Pendleton (Ware, Mass.) split time in net with Dawkins taking the loss while collecting three saves. Pendleton made eight saves in the second half for Fitchburg.

Westfield State, which own a 7-0-2 record in their last nine games, will travel to Plymouth State on Tuesday for a non-conference game at 3:00 P.M. Fitchburg State will visit MCLA for a MASCAC game on Friday at 6:00 P.M.