WESTFIELD, Mass. -- On paper, it was a dominant effort by Eastern Connecticut State University Women's Soccer, who were regionally ranked for the first time since 2018 yesterday, against Westfield State University in Wednesday's road matchup. However, the scoreboard would end up telling a different story as the Warriors suffered their first loss of the 2026 campaign at the hands of the Owls, 2-1, behind a second-half goal from first-year midfielder Lorelai Whalley.
In looking at the final totals from the affair alone, Eastern held a substantial edge in offensive chances, tripling Westfield State's shot output, 28-9, while having an 8-5 edge in shots on goal, and not allowing the Owls to get a single corner kick, while having nine of their own across the 90 minutes of action. All that to say, senior goalkeeper
Kaeden Dublin, who got the start in net for the Warriors, made three saves, falling to 1-1-0, while sophomore goalkeeper Mady Harmon came away with three saves in 68:04 for Westfield State.
Sophomore midfielder Annika Stockhaus got the home team on the board first in just the fifth minute of the match, making the most of a Warrior turnover in the defensive zone to stun Dublin with a quick strike to her left as the Owls quickly were ahead 1-0. Towards the latter stages of the first half, Westfield State nearly took a two-goal lead, as a defensive zone scrum by Eastern with Dublin rushing out of the box saw first-year forward Emersynn Cage fire just wide of the goal post, keeping it a one-goal affair heading into the break.
Coming out in the second half as aggressively as they were during the opening 45 minutes, the chances kept coming for Eastern, but they would struggle to connect with the net until first-year forward
Alana Burnell found an opening on a pass from sophomore forward
Michaela Gasparri in the 55th minute, slipping to the right of the Owl defense and firing to the left of Harmon to tie the match at one all.
The tie affair would be short-lived, after Harmon weathered an onslaught of Warrior attempts in the moments after the equalizer, as a foul near the 18-yard box led to a touch-and-go strike from Whalley. On the free kick, junior defender Kylie Tomasetti toed the ball between the legs of Whalley, who then fired it just under the crossbar and the outstretched arm of Dublin in the 66th minute for the go-ahead goal.
However, the Eastern offense would not relent against Harmon, and eventually senior goalkeeper Kayla Santucci, who had four saves in just 21:56, to close out the match. Anywhere from within 30 yards was fair game for the Warriors as they continued to pepper the goal, coming within inches of tying things back up on several occasions, seeing at least three second-half shots ping off the crossbar, while another couple were lifted just above the crossbar out of harm's way without Harmon or Santucci getting a piece of them in the 2-1 loss.
Eastern would look to regroup as they face VTSU Castleton in their second conference match of the season this Saturday at Rick McCarthy Field with a 1:00 PM start time. The Warriors have taken three of their last four matchups against the Spartans, including a 2-0 road victory last year.
