Field Hockey Blanks Westfield State, 5-0

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University field hockey team closed out its home schedule in style on Wednesday night.

The Bears upset second-place Westfield State University, 5-0, after the Owls had blanked BSU, 4-0, earlier this month.

The victory improves the Bears' record to 8-9 and 4-5 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference with one regular-season game to go.

Junior Lexi James (Ipswich, Mass.) and sophomore Abbie Zuber (Westport, Mass.) had two goals apiece for BSU while junior Brianna Gagnon (Tewksbury, Mass.) recorded the shutout as the Bears ended a two-game losing streak.

The loss sends Westfield State (10-8 overall) a game behind first-place Fitchburg State in the MASCAC standings with the Falcons at 7-2 and the Owls at 6-3 with a game remaining.

BSU scored three goals in the fourth period to pull away from Westfield State.

The Bears had lost six straight games to the Owls with their last win in the series coming in 2018.

James gave BSU a 1-0 lead 13:47 into the game with freshman Taylor Carter (Walpole, Mass.) getting the assist.

Carter collected a pass off a penalty corner, stickhandled around a defender and sent a pass towards the front of the net and onto the stick of James. She turned and slipped a shot into the right side of the net.

Carter recorded her eighth assist, second on the team.

BSU had a chance to add to the lead with about 10 minutes to go in the third period with a 3-on-2 advantage, but James' shot was stopped by a sprawled-out Westfield State junior goalkeeper Emma Gniadek (Worcester, Mass.).

The Bears did go up, 2-0, in that period at 41:42 when freshman Samantha Souza (Dartmouth, Mass.) scored from James.

James picked up the rebound of her own shot and sent a backhander to the left post where Souza redirected it out of midair into the net for her team-leading 10th goal.

Souza is the Bears' first ten-goal scorer since Samantha Hayes potted 23 goals in 2018.

Zuber, who scored twice in less than three minutes, made it 3-0 in the final period, scoring from senior Charlotte McElroy (Carver, Mass.) at 52:12.

Off a penalty corner, McElroy found Zuber in the slot on a give-and-go, and she delivered a shot inside the right post.

The two combined to make it 4-0 at 54:50 on a similar play, Zuber getting the goal and McElroy assisting.

Zuber slipped a pass to McElroy on a penalty corner, and McElory gave it right back to Zuber in the slot with the goal being scored inside the right post.

BSU's final goal came at 56:42 with James getting a centering pass from junior Raegen Perry (Nantucket, Mass.) in the slot, and she beat the oncoming keeper with a shot to the center of the cage.

The five goals scored by the Bears is the second-highest total of the season, topped only by the eight BSU had against Anna Maria on Sept. 25.

Gagnon did not make any saves in recording her second shutout while Gniadek stopped four shots for the Owls.

James and Zuber are tied for second on the team with seven goals each. Zuber has the lead in points with 23, ahead of Souza's 22, and Zuber is first on the team with nine assists.

Zuber tied BSU Hall of Famer Karen Croteau (1981) for fifth place on the Bears' single-season assist list while Carter, with her eight assists, is tied for seventh along with eight other former Bears.

BSU finishes the regular season on Saturday at noon at first-place Fitchburg State.

Westfield State is at Framingham State on Saturday at 2 p.m.