After winning their semifinal contests on Friday, Bridgewater State and Westfield State are set to meet in the 2024 MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament title game.

#2 Westfield State 3, #3 Worcester State 0 

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) scored a pair of goals as the Owls totaled three second half goals to pull away from Worcester State 3-0 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference semifinal game from Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass. on Friday afternoon.

The second-seeded Owls advance into the MASCAC Championship game for the fourth straight season and will face the winner of top seeded Bridgewater State and fourth-seeded Fitchburg State on Sunday. If the Bears win, the Owls will travel to Bridgewater for the title game and if the Falcons win the Owls will host a championship match from Alumni Field. Times to be announced later in the day.

The match entered the second half scoreless with the Owls nearly converting with less than ten minutes remaining in the first half after a shot from Kiki McNary (Brattleboro, Vt.) clipped the crossbar, bouncing down and into the penalty area where a return shot from Livie Crooks (Wilbraham, Mass.) was partially blocked by a Lancers defender, keeping the game scoreless.

Six minutes into the second half, Kiana Muratsuka (Mililani, Hawaii) possessed the ball downfield and ripped a high shot towards the net that was tipped up and over the crossbar by Lancers goalkeeper Ella Gumienny (Douglas, Mass.). On the ensuing corner kick, Muratsuka lofted a ball into the front edge of the box where Kylie Tomasetti (Northborough, Mass.) headed the ball off the crossbar, with the ball settling back down inside the goalie box for Delaney Parker (Orange, Mass.) who tapped home the game's opening goal.

The Lancers responded with a pair of shots from Ava Lemanski (Clinton, Mass.) minutes after the Parker goal, but Owls keeper Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) was up to the task, denying both shot attempts to preserve the lead.

With 22 minutes left in regulation, the Owls capitalized on another corner kick, doubling the Westfield lead to 2-0. Muratsuka was the corner feeder who sent a pass into the box with Tomasetti getting to the ball first again, then with Gumienny aggressively challenging the ball, Tomasetti touched a pass through to Berthiaume in the middle of the box, burying her first marker of the afternoon to give Westfield a critical insurance goal.

In the closing minutes of the match, the Owls put the finishing touches on a strong afternoon performance. McNary intercepted a pass from just inside the midfield line where she would send a pass up field to Parker. Parker collected the ball, dribbled inside the 20-yard line and fired a shot that hit the left post, bouncing to the feet of Berthiaume who came crashing towards the back post to tally her second goal of the game.

Robak (W, 7-4-2) registered her second consecutive shutout for the Owls, making seven saves in the contest. Gumienny collected nine saves for Worcester as Westfield held the upper hand in shots at a 26-11 advantage. The Owls hit the crossbar three times and the post once as well.

#1 Bridgewater State 3,  #4 Fitchburg State 1 

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.

Release courtesy of Bridgewater State and Westfield State Sports Information