WESTFIELD – After almost 72 minutes of scoreless play, junior forward Holly Brouillette (Burlington/ Burlington, Mass.) poked the ball into an open net to give the Westfield State Owls field hockey team a 1-0 victory over the University of Southern Maine in sudden death overtime Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
In the first two minutes of overtime, Brouillette had two shots saved by Huskies junior goalkeeper Amanda Kasbohm (York/ York, ME), including a diving save in the opening minute after a good feed from junior midfielder Meg Doherty (Mansfield/ Mansfield, Mass.) set up the scoring chance.
On the game-winning play, Owls senior midfielder Emily Williams (Frontier/Deerfield, Mass.) broke through the defense into the arc, drawing Kasbohm out of the net before dishing to Brouillette for the easy score.
EMILY WILLIAMS
With the win, Westfield State improves to 4-3, 2-1 in the Little East Conference, while Southern Maine drops to 4-6, 1-2 in the LEC.
Southern Maine controlled the possession for much of the first half, but neither team had many scoring chances. The Huskies had the only two shots on goal in the first half, both of which were saved by Owls junior goalkeeper Megan Fountaine (Scituate, Scituate, Mass.).
In the final six minutes of the second half, Southern Maine threatened to break the 0-0 tie, earning four penalty corners which led to four shots on net, but Fountaine came up with the crucial saves.
With 2:38 remaining, a penalty corner led to a shot from Lindsay Jackson (Maranacook/Readfield, ME) which Fountaine saved with her leg pad.
Forty-five seconds later, Kaylie Andrews (Traip Academy/ Kittery, ME) played a penalty corner to Michaela Demers (Manchester/ Manchester, ME), who ripped a shot into the knees of a sliding Fountaine. The ball rattled around at Fountaine’s feet before Andrews secured the ball and fired a shot just wide of the net.
After calling a timeout with 1:02 left in regulation, Westfield ran a set play that led to a good scoring opportunity for Doherty, but Kasbohm came up with the save.
Kasbohm had four saves in the loss, while Fountaine made seven saves to earn her fourth win.
Westfield State hosts Fitchburg State on Tuesday, September 29 at Alumni Field at 7 p.m. in Little East Conference play.
