Owls Field Hockey Ends Season With NCAA Tournament Loss at #8 Shenandoah

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Westfield State field hockey team's appearance was short lived, falling to nationally-ranked Shenandoah, 11-0 in a first round game on Wednesday afternoon at Aikens Stadium in Winchester, Virginia.

Despite the lopsided score, the experience wasn't all bad for the Owls.

"Our girls got a great experience playing in the tournament," said Westfield State head coach Carden Brown.   "A chance to learn what it's like to play in the tournament, to play a really good team.  For our players who return next year it's a chance to learn what to improve upon, and for our graduating seniors it's great for them to know that they have helped build the program, and helped the team get better and better over four years."

The eighth-ranked hornets improve to 19-2 on the year and advance to this weekend's regional at Williams College in Western Massachusetts, while Westfield's season comes to an end at 13-9.

The Hornets displayed excellent technical skills in building a 6-0 lead at the half.

"They were clearly the most skilled team we played all year," said Brown.  "They were a great passing team, they do the simple things really well, and eliminated mistakes.  They capitalized better on the mistakes we made then we did on any that they made."

PHOTOS - (Courtesy Shenandoah University Athletics)

Westfield withstood the early offensive barrage from Shenandoah, keeping the Hornets off the board for the first 12 minutes of the game.   Westfield goalkeeper Emma Gnaidek stopped the first five shots she saw before the floodgates opened.

The Hornets took a 1-0 lead 12:21 into the game on a penalty corner play, Farren Winter carried the ball from the top of the circle around to the right side 15 feet out, flicking a shot past Gnaidek for a 1-0 lead.

Shenandoah doubled that lead with 38 seconds left in the first quarter, when the ball was batted around in the circle before coming to Mairead McKibben at the right post for the goal and a 2-0 lead over the Owls.

From there, the floodgates opened, as the Hornets tacked on four goals in the second quarter and five in the third.

McKibben finished with three goals for the Hornets, with Winter and Cassidy Morin adding two each. Elizabeth Ranberger dished out three assists.

The Hornets held the Owls without a shot on goal, outshooting Westfield 35-0 and holding a 13-1 margin in penalty corners.

Westfield got 12 saves in goal from Gniadek.

Despite the loss, the Owls finish the year on a positive note, having won the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference title for the first time and breaking the long tournament drought, and setting a school record with 13 wins in a season.   Westfield was making its first appearance in the big dance since 1981 - a year that the Owls competed in and hosted the NCAA Division III Final Four.

"I told the team after the game I am proud of how they did this season, even if today didn't go the way we hoped," said Brown. "I'm proud of what they have done – they have made some history for the program going back to the national tournament after a long time, and we've had some great achievements in setting the wins record and winning the MASCAC title." 

"As a team, we want to get better every year, and it takes time to build – you can't often go from one extreme to another.   I though we finished on a strong note, a lot of players stepped up all year, we had a lot of leadership, and we worked hard every day."