BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University advanced to the championship game of the 2024 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Soccer Tournament as the top-seeded Bears posted a 3-1 victory over #4 seed Fitchburg State University in the semifinal round on Friday night at Mazzaferro Field.

The Bears (11-4-3) advance to the MASCAC Championship Game for the second straight season and 14th time in program history. Bridgewater will host #2 seed Westfield State University on Sunday at noon. Westfield shut out #3 seed Worcester State University in the other semifinal round matchup, 3-0, earlier today.

The win also marked the 97th coaching victory for Bears' head coach Yasmina Carvalho who became the all-time winningest coach in BSU women's soccer history. Carvalho surpassed Andrea Zeigler-O'Connor who guided the Bears to 96 wins from 1999 to 2009.

The Falcons end the season with an overall record of 4-12-3.

The Bears tallied a pair of goals just 47 second apart in the 30th minute to take a 2-0 lead at the break.

Senior Sydney Sousa (Dartmouth, Mass.) opened the scoring in the 30th minute with her first goal of the season. Sousa corralled a cross from junior Olivia Robarge (Pepperell, Mass.) on the left side of the six and delivered a shot inside the far post.

Moments later, sophomore Natalie Mattos (Fairhaven, Mass.) intercepted a poor punt and fired a shot into the open right side of the cage from 25-yards out with the goalie out of position. The strike marked Mattos' third goal of the 2024 campaign.

In the 51st minute, Mattos cleared one off the line to preserve the two-goal lead. Just two minutes later, Robarge made it a 3-0 game with her team-leading 12th goal of the season and 20th of her career.

Graduate student Emily McCormack (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made a nice run on the right side, dribbled in near the goal line and slipped a centering pass to an unguarded Robarge in the slot who buried a shot into the center of the cage.

The Falcons broke up the shutout bid with 5:43 minutes left to play as junior Adrianna Westcott (Sayreville, N.J.) scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season. Junior Charlotte Meixsell (Boxford, Mass.) sent a cross to Westcott stationed off the right side of the net. Westcott turned and deposited a left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net. Senior Kendra Peretzman (Randolph, Mass.) also assisted on the goal.

Bridgewater finished with a 12-9 shot advantage for the game while Fitchburg held a slight 6-5 edge in corner kick attempts.

Junior Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) made one save to pick up her ninth win of the season and 29th of her career. Levesque tied Lauren DeSousa (2015-17) for second place on the Bears' all-time goaltending wins list.

Sophomores Cassandra Pendleton (Ware, Mass.) and Madison Dawkins (Haverhill, Mass.) split the game between the pipes for the Falcons with Pendleton turning aside four shots over the first 45 minutes.

Notes: Bridgewater holds a 27-4-4 advantage in the all-time series with the Falcons including an 18-2 mark at home…The two teams have met five times in the MASCAC Tournament, including each of the last four seasons, with Bridgewater winning four of the five contests.