WESTFIELD – The Westfield State University men’s and women’s soccer teams received their first-round pairings in the NCAA Division III national tournament yesterday.
The undefeated Westfield State women’s soccer team will play Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., on Saturday, Nov. 10, while the Westfield men’s will play at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., on Thursday, Nov. 8. Game times are to be determined.
The Westfield-Wheaton winner will play a second round match on Sunday vs. either Williams College or Farmingdale (N.Y.) State. The Sunday game will be played at Wheaton College. Last season the Westfield women lost to Williams, 2-1, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Wheaton enters the game with a 16-1-6 record. Wheaton tied Springfield in the NEWMAC championship game but Springfield claimed the conference tournament crown via the penalty kick shootout.
In the men’s bracket, the Westfield-Dickinson winner will play at top seed Amherst College on Sunday, Nov. 11.
Both Westfield teams earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament by capturing MASCAC tournament championships this past Sunday.
The Westfield women improved to 18-0-1 by blanking Bridgewater State, 2-0, in the MASCAC championship game to earn their fourth NCAA Tournament berth in the past five years.
The Westfield men upset Salem State, 3-0, in the MASCAC title tilt to earn their first NCAA bid in six years. The Owls own a 9-9-2 overall record but they are peaking at the right time under first year head coach John Evans as they have allowed only one goal and have posted a 4-0-1 record in their last five games.
Dickinson College (12-4-2) is one of three teams from the highly competitive Centennial Conference that earned an NCAA bid. Dickinson is located in south central Pennsylvania, just west of Harrisburg.
Westfield is led in scoring by all-conference first-team selections Jon Principato (5 goals, 3 assists, 13 points) and Jared Spicer (3-3-9); both are senior midfielders. Second team all-conference selections were senior back Bill Reagan and junior forward Dan Brady.
The Westfield women have had a record-setting season. The Owls have set a school record for victories in a season and have tied a school record for goals scored in a season (64). Westfield has a school record 12 shutouts, allowing only seven goals in 19 games, and enters the NCAA Tournament with a school-record 13 straight victories.
The Owls are led in scoring my 2012 MASCAC player of the year Kayley Miller, who has a school record 49 points this season. Miller was a first-team all-conference selection along with five teammates: senior forward Brittanie McGregor, sophomore midfielders Ashleigh Chretien and Sarah Sypek, freshman back Katie Knight, and junior goalie Jess Habif.
In addition, freshman midfielder Ashley Bovat was selected the MASCAC rookie of the year, and the Owls made it a clean sweep as Todd Ditmar was named the MASCAC coach of the year.
McGregor is the team’s second leading scorer (10-15-35) and has tied a school record for assists in a season. Chretien (7-3-17) and Bovat (6-2-14) are other top scorers. Habif is ranked nationally with a 0.36 goals against average.
