Women's Soccer Falls 2-1 in Overtime in MASCAC Semifinals

WORCESTER, Mass. --  Junior Alicia Macomber (Stoughton, Mass.) a pair of goals – including the game winning goal 1:22 into overtime – to help propel top-seeded Worcester State to a 2-1 victory over #5 Bridgewater State in the semifinals of the MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament this evening at Coughlin Field.

The Lancers (13-3-1) move on to the conference tournament championship game on Sunday as they will entertain second-seeded Westfield State at noon. The Owls defeated #3 Framingham State in the other semifinal matchup, 4-0. The Bears finished their 2014 league playoff run at 7-12 overall making their 15th consecutive MASCAC Tournament appearance.

Tonight's contest was a rematch of last year's tournament title game which saw Bridgewater State defeat Worcester State, 3-1, for the crown.

The Bears broke into the scoring column in the 12th minute when junior Carolyn Sessler (Plymouth, Mass.) found an open senior Lauren Bandoian (Medford, Mass.) with a pass from the near side to the far side of the field. Bandoian then collected the ball and fired a shot that missed the fingertips of the netminder and caromed off the top of the crossbar into the net.

Worcester State evened the contest four minutes later on a lead pass by senior Alyssa Sawyer (W. Springfield, Mass.) as she connected with Macomber up the right side of the net. Macomber then dribbled into the right side of the box and blasted a shot past the goalie to the top left corner.

On a breakaway to start off the second half, Worcester State had a golden opportunity to go up by one goal. Sawyer was alone on the far side, however, her attempt was rejected by the Bridgewater State back line and a rebound to senior Shelby Archer (Dayville, Conn.) was also knocked out of harm's way by another defender.

With 20 minutes remaining in regulation, Bridgewater State senior Mackenzie Hatfield (Feeding Hills, Mass.) found space on the right side of the net and uncorked a shot from 15 yards out, but junior goalkeeper Jillian Witkowski (Leicester, Mass.) preserved the contest and made one of her three saves on the evening.

After missing a number of opportunities to score in the second half, Macomber ended the contest in the 92nd minute as she took a feed from Archer to the left of the net and finished a rocket to the bottom right corner for her sixth match clinching tally of the campaign.

Worcester State finished with the 28-9 edge in shots (17-2 in second half) and the 11-1 margin in corner kicks.

Junior Kristin Reardon (Weymouth, Mass.) ended her night with nine saves for the visitors in the tough setback.