The University of Rochester scored three goals in the first half and went on to a 4-0 victory over Westfield State College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Playoffs at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
Ellen Coleman scored twice for the Yellowjackets. Brittany Huber and Jessica Smith scored one goal apiece. Eileen Boylan assisted on the Smith goal. Bridget Kehm assisted on Coleman's second tally.
Rochester moves into the second round of the tournament. The Yellowjackets are 13-3-3 overall. Westfield State finishes its season at 16-2-2. The Owls lost their season opener in overtime, then ran off an 18-game unbeaten streak.
Coleman scored 2:02 into the match. Bridgette Varin played a ball down the left sideline. Coleman collected it 20 yards off the endline. She cut into the box and around a defender. She shot from 12 yards out deflected off goalkeeper Jessica Pieciak and into the lower left hand corner of the goal.
The early goal was a boost for Rochester. The Yellowjackets won their last two home games – 1-0 over Emory in OT and 2-1 vs. Carnegie Mellon. Both were offensive struggles. “We had a good pre-game talk today,” Coleman said. “We didn't want to mess up in the first round.”
“We had a good idea of what Rochester wanted to do,” said Westfield coach Todd Ditmar. “We tried to funnel the ball into the middle and they beat us outside.”
Rochester's strength played an important role. “This is the only team we have played this year that is so big and so fast,” Ditmar said. “We like to play a quick passing game and a lot of times, there were three and four white (Rochester) shirts around the ball.”
Westfield's first good offensive surge came in the middle of the half. The ball was pushed down the left wing to Kate MacLellan. She sent a crisp pass through the center of the box and Meg Gearin, Westfield's leading scorer, put it just over the crossbar.
“We couldn't get much information on them,” said Rochester coach Terry Gurnett. “We knew Gearin up top was excellent and MacLellan is a standout on the wing.”
Huber made it 2-0 at 29:12. She broke through on the right side past the defense. Pieciak came out to challenge and Huber shot the ball past her from 20 yards and into the left side of the net. Smith stretched the lead to 3-0 at 40:33 by tipping home a long free kick from Eileen Boylan.
“We wanted to pressure them,” Gurnett said. “We wanted to play as much of the game as possible in their defensive third.”
The final goal came from Coleman at 60:24. She ran a wall pass with Kehm, collected the return, went around a defender, and lined it into the top portion of the net.
Pieciak made three saves in goal for Westfield and the Owls cleared one shot off the line. Celeste Hornbach made four saves in the first 77:45 for Rochester. Bridget Lang played the final 12:15 and made one save. Rochester outshot Westfield, 16-10, and held a 7-4 edge on corner kicks.
