Westfield‘s Emma Pedolzky sends No. 3 UMass to A-10 women’s soccer final with game-winner

DAYTON, OHIO – Senior midfielder Emma Pedolzky, of Westfield notched the game-winning goal in the 89th minute to send the No. 3 University of Massachusetts women’s soccer team to the Atlantic 10 championship final after taking down No. 2 Dayton, 2-1, on Wednesday night at Baujan Field.

UMass reaches the A-10 Championship for the eighth time in program history, and will face No. 1 Saint Louis on Sunday, November 10 in St. Louis, Missouri. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ at 1 p.m.

The Minutewomen improve to 13-4-2 overall and hold a 6-2-2 mark in the A-10, while the Flyers finished the season with an overall record of 14-4-2 and a 7-1-2 record in the league.

Massachusetts got on the board early in the first half, as graduate student forward Karina Groff secured her third goal of the season. On a free kick, graduate student midfielder Ella Curry sent the ball into the box, with Dayton’s goalkeeper Batoul Reda punched the ball out. Groff collected the ball just outside the six-yard box and booted it into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0.

The Flyers tied it up in the 43rd minute at 1-1 off an own goal as the ball deflected into the net to end the first half.

In the second half, it took until the final minutes for the tie to be broken, as Pedolzky scored the game-winning goal at the 88:22 mark for her fourth goal of the year. Curry short passed the corner kick to senior midfielder Bella Recinos, before Recinos passed it back towards Curry. Curry then kicked the ball into traffic in front of the net, with a Dayton player trying to clear it. Recinos came into the 18-yard box and got a foot on the ball on the clear to send it towards the net, as Pedolzky chipped it past Dayton’s keeper Reda to give the Minutewomen the 2-1 lead.

Pedolzky, Recinos and graduate student forward Grace Pinkus registered two shots apiece, followed by Groff and senior forward Ashley Lamond with one shot each. Pedolzky, Groff and Pinkus all placed a shot on net.

Emma Pedolzky and her twin sister, Chandler, helped lead the Westfield Bombers to four straight league championships, a Western Massachusetts title, and a state finals appearance. The Pedolzky sisters also play for the New England Mutiny, a semi-pro team which operates out of the United Women’s Soccer League. – Courtesy of UMASS Athletics