Amanda Magri scored the lone goal for the Owls on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Westfield State Sports)
WESTFIELD – Westfield State and Framingham State battled to a 1-1 draw in a key midseason Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s soccer matchup at Alumni Field on Friday night.
Westfield is now 6-4-1 on the season, 3-0-1 in the MASCAC. Framingham is 6-4-2, 1-1-2 in the MASCAC.
Westfield opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when Amanda Magri (Ashland/Ashland, Mass.) blasted a shot from the top of the penalty area to the right upper 90 after the Rams failed to clear the ball after the Owls’ Nicole Gay (Smith Academy/Hatfield, Mass.) attempted to cross the ball from the end line.
Framingham got the goal that leveled the match in the 54th minute, applying offensive pressure with an initial shot that was saved by Owls goalkeeper Natalia Falcone (Sutton/Sutton, Mass.), but the rebound came out to the right side of the net where the Rams’ Michaela Hyland (East Longmeadow/East Longmeadow, Mass.) played the ball on a back heel out to Angela Palotta (Clinton/Sterling, Mass.) about eight yards out and she hit a hard looping shot that just eluded the outstretched leap of Falcone to find the twine.
Westfield applied steady offensive pressure throughout the match with a 14-5 edge in total shots and a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks. The Owls had two golden opportunities slide by the board in the first half when both Ashley Bovat (Westfield/Westfield, Mass.) and Hannah Zannini (Amesbury/Amesbury, Mass.) broke through the defense with dangerous, clean shots, but both sailed high.
The story of the match was the play of Rams goalkeeper Sara Sullivan (North Quincy/Quincy, Mass.), who managed six saves, but came off her line aggressively to punch away serves and crosses, and several times to slide to reel in Owls’ through balls just a half step ahead of the Owls’ attackers to keep Framingham squarely in the match. Sullivan punched away three dangerous crosses in the second overtime alone.
Falcone stopped two shots for Westfield. Both teams generated some offensive pressure in the overtime, with each team gaining two corners in the extra frame, but neither team put a shot on net in the extra session.
Westfield will play host to local rival Western New England next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., while Framingham will next host Wentworth on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
