Westfield’s Jared Spicer gets tangled up with Fitchburg’s Brett Smith. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
WESTFIELD – Senior midfielder Jon Principato (Stoneham) scored the game-winning goal to lift Westfield State University to a 1-0 victory over Fitchburg State University in the quarterfinal round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men’s soccer tournament.
Westfield, 8-9-1 overall with three straight shutout victories, advances to the MASCAC semifinal round where it will play at No. 2 seed Framingham State today at 2:00 p.m. Westfield is the No. 3 seed after finishing with a 5-2 MASCAC regular season record.
Fitchburg, which gained the sixth and final spot in the tournament after upsetting No. 1 seed Salem State this past Saturday, finishes with a 5-11-2 overall record.
Principato’s game winner came in the 24th minute and was his team leading fourth goal this season. Principato blasted a straightaway shot from 30 yards that scraped the crossbar and dropped into the back of the net.
Westfield outshot Fitchburg, 17-10, and led in the corner kicks, 9-3. However, two of Fitchburg’s corners came in the frantic final seconds of the game.
Just prior to the corners, the Falcons had a huge opportunity to tie the score when they received a direct kick from their own 40 with 47 seconds remaining. Fitchburg goalie Aidan Hanratty, who was booming punts the entire game, took the free kick and rocketed the ball 65 yards in the air. Owl keeper Kris Carrington got lost in the large crowd of players near the goal mouth and was out of position to receive the 65-yard smash. But Westfield’s Bill Reagan came out of the goal mouth to clear the ball just in time.
Fitchburg also had a major scoring threat thwarted early in the second half when Carrington stopped a point blank shot for one of his four saves. Hanratty finished with two saves.
