After winning their quarterfinal contests on Tuesday afternoon, Fitchburg State and Worcester State are moving on to the semifinal round of the 2023 MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament.

#5 Fitchburg State 3, #4 Salem State Box Score

SALEM, MA: Fitchburg women's soccer took down the Vikings of Salem State this afternoon in the MASCAC Quarterfinal round by a score of 3-1.  

THE BASICS:

- Date: 10/31/23

- Score: Fitchburg 3, Salem 1

- Records: Fitchburg (4-10-4), Salem (4-12-2)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

-  The Falcons struck first on a long-distance boot from Charlotte Meixsell (Boxford, MA), which beat the Viking keeper just under the crossbar. Her shot was set up perfectly by Joanie Butler (Woburn, MA), who found Meixsell on the left side of the field for the gather and shot.   

- Fitchburg tacked on a second goal eight minutes later in the 33rd minute on a corner by Meixsell that was finished by Adrianna Westcott (Sayreville, NJ).  

- The second half started with the third Falcon goal scored by Kendra Peretzman (Randolph, MA) after a rebounded shot from Ashley Porter (Upton, MA). The Vikings would strike back just over a minute later with their first goal of the contest by Savannah Scrodin on a long pass down the sideline from Jenna Mitza. Scrodin lifted the ball up near the Falcons end line, just getting it over their keeper's hands. Salem's goal would be that last of the contest, getting the final of 3-1 in favor of the visiting Falcons.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

-  Madison Dawkins (Haverhill, MA) got the win after making 9 saves on 10 shots faced. Lily Pfefferle would be tagged with the loss after saving 4 of the 7 shots faced.

-  Shots: Salem 11, Fitchburg 9

-  Corner Kicks: Fitchburg 6, Salem 1

UP NEXT:

• Fitchburg State women's soccer will travel to either the 1-seeded Bridgewater State or 2-seeded Westfield State on Friday for the MASCAC Semifinals.

#3 Worcester State 1, #6 Mass. Maritime 2 OT   Box Score

The Worcester State Lancers (5-8-2, 5-2 MASCAC) open up tournament play against the Mass. Maritime Bucaneers (2-8-5, 1-4-2 MASCAC) at John F. Coughlin Memorial Field for the MASCAC quarterfinals matchup.

 In their only regular season matchup, Worcester State defeated the Bucs by a score of 5-0.

FINAL:

Lancers 1

Mass. Maritime 0 

RECAP:

First Half:

The first half of this playoff matchup saw a back-and-forth between the two teams with no goals scored. It was a solid defensive effort from both sides to keep the score 0-0 heading into the second half. 

Defender Addison Enos (Middleboro, Mass.) was booked with a yellow card 28' into the contest on a battle for a header at midfield.

The Lancers ended the half with seven shots on goal compared to Mass. Maritimes two. Worcester State's first-year forward Ava Lemanski (Clinton, MA) and sophomore midfielder Erin Condon (East Bridgewater, MA) both fired two shots on goal.

Buccaneers senior midfielder Ally Reddish (Canton, MA) footed two shots for Mass. Maritime in the first 45' of play.

Junior goalkeeper Reagan Kerecz (Tolland, CT) recorded seven saves for the Bucs. Lancer freshman goalkeeper Ella Gumienny (Douglas, MA) had two saves for her side.

Second Half:

The Lancers started off the second half with multiple runs on goal, but the Mass. Maritime defense held their own shutting down anything that came their way early in the second half. 

Condon attempted her third shot of the game 14 minutes into the half from 20 yards out that was impressively stopped by Kerecz to keep the game scoreless. 

Senior midfielder Olivia Magierowski (Brimfield, MA) crossed in a corner kick that nearly bent into the net but was once again stopped by Kerecz. 

First-year forward Lucy Watson (Blackstone, MA) fired a powerful shot with distance on goal shortly after but wasn't able to break the tie.

Watson stepped in to take a corner with 13' remaining that nearly trickled in after a scrum in front of the net that eventually found Kerecz's hands for her 18th save of the afternoon. 

Junior midfielder Abby MacDonald (Lancaster, MA) took the ball from the half line and made an incredible run into the box where she crossed a ball into the box and was once again found by the keeper Kerecz, her 23rd save of the night. 

With no score, both teams head into overtime to decide this one.

Overtime:

Six minutes into the first OT, Worcester was awarded a corner where Lucy Watson delivered a ball that found first-year defender Julianne Earnest (Columbia, CT) who headed the ball past Kerecz to bring her squad closer to advancing.

With the loss, the Mass Maritime defense backs senior Abigail Lelievre (Littleton, MA), sophomore midfielder Matilda Laux (Arlington, MA), and junior Lindsy Durgin (Rochester, MA) played a great game to stop the Lancer offensive attack.

Reagan Kerecz played a great game in net, totaling 25 saves in a great game played by the goalie.

With the win, the Lancers advance and travel to the MASCAC semifinals to face Westfield St. on Friday, November 3rd at 12 p.m. 

Releases courtesy of Fitchburg State and Worcester State Sports Information