WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State first-year Carter Hebert (Easthampton, Mass.) scored a pair of goals in a five-minute span in the second half to power Westfield, as the Owls secured a 2-0 win over Castleton University in a non-conference match at Alumni Field on Tuesday evening.
The Owls get their first win of the season to improve to 1-6-3, while Castleton slips to 3-3-2.
It was the first win in Owl blue for head coach Dr. Christopher Streeter '98, himself a former standout player for the Owls and a second-generation member of the Owls' soccer team. Both Streeter and his father Al '72 are members of the Westfield State hall of fame. Dr. Streeter served six years as the women's head coach at Bay Path and four leading the Elms College men before returning to the Owls' sideline.
"It was a long time coming," said Streeter. "I talked the team at half time and told that that we were one of the best teams in the country with no wins. This is well deserved, we have been in a lot of games, but we just haven't had those finishing pieces and tonight we were able to finish a couple of great opportunities. We had a lot of good looks, and defensively we did a nice job of being composed and shifting."
"This is a big win for our program and it means a lot to me obviously, and my father and my family, and I'm just so thrilled to be out here and contributing to the Westfield State cause. I'm really proud of the guys, they are hanging in there and sticking with what we are teaching and what we are trying to do, and this one feels good," added Streeter.
Hebert's first goal came in the 55th minute off a long pass into the penalty area that the Spartans couldn't clear. Westfield's Nick Brown (Southwick, Mass.) won the ball deep in the right corner and beat his man, firing a hard pass across the goal mouth that Hebert volleyed home on the short side for a 1-0 lead.
Hebert later headed home a corner kick from Bryant Keeney (Westfield, Mass./Pope Francis) to give Westfield a 2-0 lead.
"They were great balls by teammates, I was just in the right place at the right time," said Hebert. "Nick Brown, great pass; Bryant, great corner, I just put them in there. Great team goals."
"We stuck to the plan, trusted coach, trusted what he implemented at the beginning of the season," said Hebert. "We knew it was going to come around sometime and it did this game."
Westfield had the better of the run of play all night, getting off 33 total shots, and putting 17 shots on goal.
Castleton got an admirable job in goal from Andres Soto-Burgos, who made 15 saves.
The Spartans best scoring opportunity came early in the first half with Charlie Cisneros' header off a the second of back to back corner kicks hit the far post and ricocheted back into the center of the box. Amid a swarm of players Westfield starting GK Drew Adams (N. Attleboro, Mass.) made at least one save on a Jacob Barth shot befior the ball was cleared.
Westfield saw Adams leave the game with an apparent injury after a goal kick in the second half. Emilio Mancuso (Ludlow, Mass.) came on in goal and made four saves in 31 minutes to help preserve the shutout, including a diving stop late as the Spartans loaded up some shots from the perimeter to try to get even.
Adams finished with four saves.
Westfield will jump back into conference action this Saturday with a match at Worcester State.