Bracket

For the fourth straight season, the Worcester State Lancers are the top seed in the MASCAC Women's Soccer Tournament which begins on Tuesday, October 31 with the quarterfinal games.

The quarterfinal round begins on Tuesday with fourth seed Salem State hosting fifth seed MCLA at 1 pm while 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. 

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.