Women's Soccer Blanks Framingham State, 4-0

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's soccer team has won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

The Bears defeated Framingham State University, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at Mazzaferro Field, improving to 3-1-1 in the past five games.

BSU, which defeated Gordon College on Wednesday night, is 5-3-2 overall and 2-0-1 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, putting them in second place.

Junior Olivia Robarge (Pepperell, Mass.) had a pair of goals and an assist for the Bears and now has a career-high eight goals to lead the team this season.

Junior goalkeeper Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) recorded the shutout, her second of the season and 14th solo shutout of her career.

BSU is now 28-12-2 against the Rams in the series. Framingham State falls to 2-8-1 and is 1-1-1 in the conference.

The Bears wasted little time taking the lead as Robarge scored just eight seconds into the game, assisted by graduate student Emily McCormack (East Bridgewater, Mass.).

BSU scored off a designed play from the opening kick off. Senior Sydney Dewhurst (East Bridgewater, Mass.) sent a long volley towards the 18 where McCormack had gotten behind the defense and took a shot off the left post.

Robarge was there to pick up the rebound and put the ball into a wide-open cage. It was the first assist of the season for McCormack.

BSU made it 2-0 just 3:44 into the game when senior Makenna Lessard (East Bridgewater, Mass.) scored her first goal of the season assisted by McCormack and sophomore Natalie Mattos (Fairhaven, Mass.).

Mattos intercepted a goal kick on the right side and headed the ball to McCormack, who slipped a short centering pass to Lessard.

A shot from roughly 25 yards out by Lessard was tipped as junior goalkeeper Madison Magone (Rockaway, N.J.) went into the air, but the ball deflected off the bottom of the crossbar and caromed into the net.

The lead stayed at 2-0 until the 53:30 mark when Dewhurst scored her third goal of the season.

Robarge sent a corner kick to the top of the six where a Dewhurst header deflected off the outstretched hand of a diving Magone and went to the back of the net.

With the goal, Dewhurst increased her career point total to 47 (16G, 15A) as she tied Christine Soucy (2006-09) for 16th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list.  

BSU made it 4-0 at 73:58 when Robarge scored from junior Lauren Sellmayer (Easton, Mass.) and freshman Anna Rice (Weymouth, Mass.).

A pass from the left side was flipped towards the 18 by Sellmayer. The ball bounced by a defender and Robarge ran onto the ball, getting just enough of a foot on it to move it by the oncoming goalkeeper for the score.

The assist for Rice marked her first collegiate point.

Levesque made two saves against freshman Hailey Ring (Warwick, Mass.) and junior Grayson Tellier (Auburn, N.H.) to pick up the shutout. Her other one came in a 0-0 tie with Wheaton College on Sept. 12.

Magone made seven saves as the Bears had the edge in shots on goal, 11-2, and shots, 18-2.

Robarge had four shots on goal and Dewhurst three to lead BSU.

The Bears have a non-conference matchup at Curry College on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Framingham State is also on the road Wednesday for a 6 p.m. game against Keene State in New Hampshire.