Kelsey Murray starts her celebration sprint after scoring Westfield’s first goal. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
WESTFIELD – Sophomore midfielder Kelsey Murray and junior midfielder Sarah Sypek each scored two goals to lead Westfield State University to a 5-2 women’s soccer victory over Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The Owls improved their record to 2-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference and 6-5 overall. Mass. Maritime is 0-3 and 3-4-2.
Murray opened the scoring in the 28th minute after receiving a nice cross pass in traffic from sophomore back Emily Carroll. The Owls only led 1-0 at halftime as Mass. Maritime sophomore goalie Katie Levesque of Wilmot, N.H., made a number of sensational saves.
Westfield’s Kate Matroni collides with Mass. Maritime goalie Katie Levesque during first-half action. (Photo by Mickey Curtis0
In the game, Westfield racked up 61 shot attempts with Levesque registering 27 saves, including a penalty kick stop. Mass. Maritime only attempted two shots but scored on both.
Westfield took a 3-0 lead early in the second half on goals by Sypek and Murray. Carroll collected her second assist and junior forward Amanda Grant of Westfield recorded her first of two assists.
Mass. Maritime scored in the 56th minute on an unassisted goal from Asia Vernson. Westfield responded with goal from Sypek and Jackie Grasso in a two-minute span for a 5-1 lead in the 73rd minute.
Mass. Maritime junior Lauren Salem, a Westfield native, scored her seventh goal of the season in the 77th minute to close out the scoring.
Westfield State is idle until next Saturday, Oct. 12, when it travels to Salem State for a key conference game with the Vikings.
