Beckman, Morss Help Lead Women's Soccer In 6-2 Win Over Fitchburg State

Worcester, MA --- Sophomore Therese Morss (Marion, MA) and senior Brianne Beckman (Lakeville, MA) both netted two goals each as they helped lead Worcester State to a 6-2 triumph over Fitchburg State in MASCAC women's soccer action this morning.

With the triumph, the Lancers improve to 7-6-2 overall and 4-1-1 in MASCAC play while the Falcons slip to 3-12 on the season and dip to 1-5 in league action.

FSU scored the first goal of the game off of a corner kick in the fifth minute. Second-year Mikaela Foley (Jefferson, MA) sent over a brilliant cross to classmate Sierra Santos (Lakeville, MA), who headed the ball past the keeper for the 1-0 advantage.

But the Blue and Gold struck back in the 11th minute when sophomore Alyssa Sawyer (W. Springfield, MA) caught a ricochet off of the original shot of Gaby Gonet (Agawam, MA) to knot up the score, 1-1. The goal was Sawyer's second of the season.

Beckman then helped put Worcester State on top 59 seconds later as she slipped past the Fitchburg State back line off of a pass from second-year Margo Clifford (Attleboro, MA) that came from the 30-yardline.

Freshman Alicia Macomber (Stoughton, MA) chipped in what proved to be the game-winning marker on a 25-yard blast on a free kick that went over a wall of Fitchburg State defenders into the net in the 26th minute. The tally was her third of the year.

Despite being outshot 14-2 in the opening frame, the Falcons started the second stanza with a tally to make the score 3-2. In the 52nd minute Santos potted her second goal of the season off a long pass from the midfield by junior Rachel Jamieson (Foxboro, MA).

It was after that goal that the Lancer backs played 35-plus minutes of solid defense and yielded two more Fitchburg State shots for the remainder of the contest.

Using that momentum, Worcester State finally broke through a midfield game when Beckman added her team-leading 13th goal of the year to make the score 4-2 in the 83rd minute. Macomber dribbled from the WSU 35 yard-line and passed it to Beckman, who was alone at the Fitchburg State 20.

Morss tacked on a pair of goals that were 79 ticks apart on breakaways that were fed by Gonet from the top of the box. They proved to be her second and third markers of the campaign.

Freshman Mia Koutoulas (Danvers, MA) finished with two saves in the victory for Worcester State. Junior Jillian Kirouac (Leominster, MA) and first-year Haley McNamara (Fitchburg, MA) split time for the Falcons. They combined to stop seven shots in the setback for FSU.

The Lancers held the 22-5 advantage in shots as the visitors led in corners, 3-2.

With her two markers today, Beckman moved past Lauren Cush (2004-07) into eighth on the all-time scoring list. Gonet is also tied for 15th with with Karen Curren (1991-94) with her two helpers.

Worcester State hosts UMass Dartmouth in their final regular-season home game of the season on "Senior Night" on Wednesday at 7 PM. Fitchburg State heads to Smith for a 3:30 non-conference battle on Tuesday.