By Jim Fenton
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's soccer team has been eliminated from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.
The third-seeded Bears, the defending champions, were halted by second-seeded Westfield State University, 2-0, at Alumni Field Friday night.
BSU had defeated the Owls, 3-2, to win the MASCAC title a year ago in Bridgewater.
The Bears went scoreless in both conference tourney games this year, winning on penalty kicks over Fitchburg State after a 0-0 tie through 110 minutes on Wednesday.
BSU was once again without its two leading scorers in seniors Olivia Robarge (Pepperell, Mass.) and Jenna Sweeney (Wilmington, Mass.).
The Bears (5-8-5) and the Owls (8-5-6) played a scoreless first half before Westfield State got on the scoreboard just over three minutes into the second half.
Senior Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) scored both goals for the Owls, assisted twice by senior Kiana Muratsuka (Wahiawa, Hawaii).
After a scoreless first half, Berthiaume made it 1-0 in the 49th minute after Muratsuka beat three defenders coming from the right side. She pushed the ball towards the middle to a wide-open Berthiaume, who ripped a shot off the crossbar and in.
On the second goal in the 76th minute, Muratsuka tried to send a thru ball in, but a BSU defender was there to disrupted the pass.
But Berthiaume was able to get to the ball between the defender and the BSU keeper, dove at it and directed it into an open net.
BSU senior goalkeeper Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) made seven saves in her final game.
Levesque set records at BSU for games played by a keeper (67), shutouts in a career (25) and minutes played by a keeper (5973:40).
Westfield State senior Julia Robak (Chicopee, Mass.) stopped four shots.
Senior Erin Richards (Plymouth, Mass.) led BSU with two shots on goal while senior Abigail Shea (Somerset, Mass.) and sophomore Anna Rice (Weymouth, Mass.) had one each.
The Bears will lose six players to graduation, including Levesque, Lauren Sellmayer (Easton, Mass.), Robarge, Shea, Sweeney and Richards.
Westfield State travels to top-seeded Worcester State for the championship game Sunday afternoon. The Lancers edged Framingham State, 1-0, Friday night.