#5 Women's Soccer set to face #4 Salem on Halloween in MASCAC Quarterfinal Round

2017 MASCAC Women's Soccer Bracket

North Adams, MA- The MCLA Women's Soccer team will return to the postseason after missing out on last year's championship.  The Trailblazers will be the fifth seed in this week's tournament, heading on the road to face fourth seeded Salem State University tomorrow at 1pm.  

For the fourth straight season, the Worcester State Lancers are the top seed in the MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament.

In the other quarterfinal matchup, third seed Bridgewater State entertains sixth seed Framingham State at 7 pm. Second seed Westfield State will face the winner of Bridgewater State/Framingham State at 4 pm on Friday, November 3 with top seed Worcester State hosting the winner of Salem State/MCLA at 7 pm in the semifinals.

The winner of both semifinals games will play on Sunday, November 5 with the highest remaining seed hosting to decide the MASCAC Tournament champion. 

MCLA lost to the Vikings at Shewcraft field just ten days ago 1-0.  In that contest, the Vikings scored in the 80th minute to post the victory.  Casey McFall netted the game winner and she is the Vikings most dangerous offensive weapon.  She leads SSU with 8 goals on the season, but has not tallied since that game on 10/21.  Emily Boyle is also a threat for SSU as she has scored 7 goals on the season.

Salem controlled much of the action in the prior contest outshooting MCLA 19-4, which included a 6-2 mark on goal.  MCLA will need another strong performance from goal keeper Megan Richardson to advance to the semifinal round.  The Trailblazers have struggled to score for much of the season as they have netted 11 goals in 2017.  Three players have scored twice in Kaylyn Holliday, Hannah Van de Water, and Aleah Sangiovanni.  

Tournament Preview (courtesy of MASCAC.com)

The Lancers earned the top spot and a first round bye with a 6-1 record in MASCAC play. Kaitlin Beluzo tallied 20 points on nine goals and two assists. Her goal and point totals were the third-most in the league. In goal, Jill Zinkus has been strong with the best league save percentage (.871), second-most saves (101) and goals against average (0.88).

Grabbing the other first round bye is Westfield State with the second seed. The Owls were 6-1 during league action. Bella Eduardo led the team with 12 goals and six assists for 20 points which are in the top three of the conference. She also finished with three game-winning goals on the year. Between the pipes, Natalia Falcone finished with a league-best nine goals against and a 0.85 goals against average with a .795 save percentage. 

Bridgewater State is next in the third seed. The Bears were 6-1 at the end of the conference regular season. Lauren DeSousa, the 2016 MASCAC Player of the Year, had a good year for the squad, leading the league in wins with 11, second-best save percentage at .844 and third-best goals-against average at 1.02.

Sitting in the fourth seed is Salem State who netted a 4-3 record during the MASCAC campaign. Casey McFall led the team with eight goals and four assists with 20 points. She also tallied four game-winning goals this season.

Finishing out the tournament field with the fifth and sixth seed are MCLA and Framingham State. The Trailblazers had two wins during the league clip. Goalie Megan Richardson tallied 132 saves, a .790 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average this season. The Rams also had two wins this season. Kayla Almstrom netted five goals and four assists for 14 points to lead the squad.

During the 2016 tournament, top seeded Worcester State defeated third seed Bridgewater State 2-1 to claim the MASCAC title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.