MANSFIELD, Conn. --  Sophomore forward Katelyn Herbert's (Bethpage, NY) third goal in two games seven minutes into play stood up and boosted the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team to a 1-0 non-conference win over Westfield State University Wednesday evening at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
Herbert, a third-team All-Little East Conference selection last year, had contributed to all three Eastern (3-3-0) goals Monday in a two-goal road win over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Wednesday, in the seventh minute, she outraced three Westfield (3-4-0) defenders and connected with a low left-footed shot from the left top corner of the box that carried just inside the right post beyond the dive of Westfield first-year goalie Kayla Santucci, who had come out to cut off the angle.
 
Each team had entered play having lost three matches – all by scores of 1-0.
 
Westfield outshot Eastern, 20-5, and was awarded five of the seven corner kicks in the game, but Eastern senior keeper Emily Wallace (Smithtown, NY) stopped seven shots to record her first win of the year in her fifth appearance (third start) against two losses.  Santucci had an easier time in goal – being asked to make just one save – but was rewarded with her second loss in three starts this year.
 
First-year defender Arianna Tomassi (Guilford) and first-year junior transfer Olivia Mullings (Newington) were credited with assists on Herbert's third goal and seventh point – both team-highs. The point was the first in the career of Tomassi and the fourth in two games for Mullings, who scored Monday's second goal and assisted on Herbert's second goal.
 
The game's lone scoring play originated with Wallace's goal kick, which junior forward Hailey Cocca (Stratford) tracked down on the right sideline near midfield and sent it to junior transfer midfielder Mia DeMartino (Tolland). DeMartino switched fields and from behind midfield, sent the ball to her left to Tomassi, who took two touches and launched it toward the box, where it deflected off Mullings to Herbert on the left wing. Herbert was chased by three defenders, but needed to beat only one before left-footing a shot on the run inside the far right post.
 
Westfield had a number of chances to tie the game, two of them coming in the final five minutes of the first half.  On the first, Wallace came off her line to stop first-year forward Kiana Patel's 1v1 bid, with Patel following up the rebound and sending it wide left. Three minutes later, Wallace smothered a cross by first-year forward Kiana Muratsuka, who sent the ball into the box after a long run down the left flank. With three minutes left, Muratsuka found herself alone on the left side on a pass from sophomore midfielder Katie Slatterty ,but fired it directly at Wallace.

Eastern was able to effectively neutralize  Muratsuka and junior teammate Delaney Parker, who are the Owls' double-digit point scorers behind the tight play of defenders Daria DiBiasio (Richmond, RI) and Morgan Kelly (Florida, NY). Muratsuka unloaded seven of her team's shot but forced Wallace to make saves on only two of them. Parker, who had a hat trick as a freshman in Westfield's 4-3 win at Rick McCarthy Field in 2021, was limited to just one shot, thanks to the tight marking of DiBiasio.
 
Eastern visits Keene State College Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Little East contest. The Warriors dropped a 1-0 decision at defending LEC champion University of Southern Maine in their conference opener this past Saturday.