BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Junior forward Nicole Simas (Dartmouth, Mass.) scored the game's only goal in the 75th minute to lift third-seeded Bridgewater State University to a 1-0 shutout victory over #6 Fitchburg State University in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Soccer Tournament on Tuesday night at Swenson Field.

The host Bears improve to 7-5-5 and advance to the tournament semifinal round on Friday night at #2 seed Westfield State University. Game time is slated for 7:00 PM. The visiting Falcons end their season with an overall mark of 6-13.

Simas deposited the ball into a wide open net from eight yards out after the Fitchburg netminder was unable to control the rebound of an Alana Vincent (Taunton, Mass.) shot coming from the right side.

BSU junior goaltender Lauren DeSousa (Taunton, Mass.) turned aside two shots to record her school-record tenth solo shutout of the 2016 campaign. DeSousa, who also has one shared shutout, helped the Bears set the team mark for shutouts in a season with 11, breaking the previous mark of ten set back in 1993.

Bridgewater held a 14-4 shot advantage as well as a 10-1 edge in corner kicks.

Freshman netminder Alexandra Foster (Leominster, Mass.) made three saves in the setback for the Falcons.