Field Hockey Edged by Framingham State, 2-1

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University field hockey team dropped its second straight game by a goal on Tuesday night.

The Bears were edged by Framingham State University, 2-1, at Mazzaferro Field after losing at Worcester State University, 3-2, last Friday night.

The game was tied at halftime, but the Rams scored the only goal of the second half to earn the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference road win.

The Bears fell to 3-5 and 1-2 in the conference.

The Rams took a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game when graduate student Angelina Serra (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored an unassisted goal.

BSU junior defender Emelia Westwater (Attleboro, Mass.) broke up a bid by Framingham State's Kaylee Beck (Tyngsboro, Mass.), but the ball went right to Serra who flipped a shot into the left side of the cage to open the scoring with her second goal of the season.

The Bears tied it in the final minute of the first period when junior Lexi James (Ipswich, Mass.) scored from freshman Taylor Carter (East Walpole, Mass.) at 14:21.

Off a penalty corner, the ball went to Carter on the left side of the circle. She slid a centering pass to James, who put a shot inside the left post for what would be BSU's lone goal of the night.

James is now tied for second on the team with four goals and has a goal in each of the last four games. Carter is tied for second on the team with four assists.

The game-winning goal came early in the second half with junior Natalia Roehr (Acton, Mass.) scoring from Beck at 31:18.

The Rams had a penalty corner, and a shot by Beck was deflected into the top left side of the net by Roehr for her first goal of the season.

Framingham State sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlyn Tello (Nashua, N.H.) made 12 saves while BSU junior goalkeeper Brianna Gagnon (Tewksbury, Mass.) had four stops.

Gagnon stopped a breakaway bid by Beck 2:47 into the second quarter to, at the time, keep the game knotted at 1-1.

The Bears had a 23-8 edge in shots and 13-6 in shots on goal. Bridgewater State had a 13-5 advantage in penalty corners.

James, sophomore Abbie Zuber (Westport, Mass.) and freshman Kallie Rose (Dartmouth, Mass.) each had two shots on goal for BSU.

The teams were meeting for the first time since the quarterfinal round of the MASCAC tournament last year when the Rams topped the Bears, 3-2.

BSU has a 32-15 lead over Framingham State in a series that began in 1983.

The Bears travel to Westfield State for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday. Framingham State (3-4, 2-1 MASCAC) will host UMass Dartmouth on Thursday at 7 p.m.