Westfield State Slips Past Men's Soccer, 3-0

Westfield State 3, Worcester State 0

Worcester, MA --- Junior Josh Severns (Suffield, CT) tallied a goal and an assist to help lead Westfield State to a 3-0 triumph this evening over Worcester State in MASCAC men's soccer action at Coughlin Field. With the win the Owls improve to 9-3 and 3-1 in the conference while the Lancers slip to 3-10 and 0-4 in the MASCAC.

The Owls got on the board 2:18 into the contest due in large part to the first foul of the contest. Third-year Justin Laliberte (Easthampton, MA) took the shot for the visitors and his attempt from 15 yards away hit the crossbar and went into the net for his third marker of the season.

The two squads then played to a stalemate with Westfield State holding an 8-5 edge in shots at the intermission.

In the second period, the Owls defense did an outstanding job of breaking up opportunities that the Lancers had on offense as they held Worcester State to just two shots in the entire period.

Worcester State junior keeper Evan Wilga (Dudley, MA) also did a great job of keeping the visitors at bay as Westfield State fired off 13 shots in the stanza. Wilga would make five remarkable stops between the pipes until sophomore Jared Spicer (Carver, MA) netted an insurance goal with seven minutes to go in regulation on a cross from Severns.

Severns would then send in his team-leading ninth tally of the season 36 seconds later as he made a nice move to get past a defender to help the Owls earn their third straight victory.

Wilga would end the game with six saves while his counterpart, junior Jeff Pepoli (Ashburnham, MA), turned aside three shots in the win.

Both teams will take a break and continue MASCAC play next Saturday. Worcester State searches for their first win conference play against Mass Maritime at home in a noontime game while Westfield State hosts Salem State in a key contest at 6 PM.