DANBURY, Conn. – There remains a very good chance that Wednesday night's  1-0 Little East Conference field hockey win may not be enough to get Eastern Connecticut State University into the conference playoffs.

There is also a very good chance that if Western Connecticut State University does not qualify, either, then the Colonials will look back on their loss to the Warriors as a major reason.

With a chance to move into a share of sixth place with a win over Eastern (5-10, 2-7 Little East), Western  (5-9, 3-6 Little East) instead fell into a three-way tie for seventh, with two conference matches remaining. The triumph leaves the Warriors in a two-way tie for tenth place. The top eight teams in the 12-team loop will compete in the conference playoffs, which get underway Oct. 30 with first-round matches.

Eastern's victory Wednesday at the Westside Athletic Complex was orchestrated by junior Morgan Osiecki (Bethel)  and sophomore Olivia Mullen (Bethel), who played their high school field hockey eight minutes from Western's campus.

Osiecki, starting at midfield in place of injured senior Rochelle Normandin (South Windsor), scored her first career goal with eight minutes left, and Mullen recorded her third shutout of the season in net by making three saves.

The only goal of the match came off senior forward Hannah Collier's (Watertown) team-leading fifth assist of the year – equalling the fifth-most in a season in program history.

It was the sixth one-goal decision in the last seven meetings in this series. Eastern snaps a three-game losing streak against Western with its third victory over the Colonials in four tries in this series on Western's home field.

Eastern hosts Worcester State University Saturday at noon and later closes out its conference regular season a week from Saturday by hosting Bridgewater State University on Seniors' Day. Worcester is winless in the conference and Bridgewater is 8-1, a game back of leader Massachusetts Dartmouth.