Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. -- For the first time in nine years under head coach Christine Hutchison, the Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team did not approach a "must win" situation as such, and because of that, the Warriors have qualified for the Little East Conference playoffs.
Saturday, the Warriors swept away nine years of frustration with a "must-win" 3-2 victory over Worcester State University that puts them in the LEC playoffs for the first time since 2004. By winning its final LEC regular-season match for only the second time in ten years, Eastern (9-8, 5-6 Little East) squeezed into the eighth and final playoff berth and will visit defending champion and 2014 unbeaten regular-season champion Keene State College (16-4, 11-0 LEC) Tuesday in one of four first-round contests.
Eastern officially finishes in a four-way tie for sixth place in the conference. Among the four tied teams, Westfield State University is the odd team out despite upending Westfield Connecticut State University, 2-1, on the road Friday night.
It was actually Westfield's victory Friday night that forced a "win or stay home" situation for Eastern against Worcester State (10-8, 5-6 LEC) Saturday afternoon on Seniors' Day. According to Hutchison, however, a young team of 15 freshmen and sophomores did not allow the high stakes to unnerve them.
"They didn't let the stress of a big game get to them. We just went in to 'play' today," said Hutchison afterward, "because winning is a little stressful when it's down to the (end) and we've done that in the past and haven't won. So today, we just went in focusing on how many shots we could take rather than how many goals we could make and (focusing) on just pushing up and playing our game and not worrying about the outcome but (rather) the process of getting there."
Having lost to Worcester – which is seeded sixth in the playoffs – three times in the previous five years on the final day of the regular season – the Warriors moved out to a 3-0 lead 12 minutes into the second half and survived a late Lancer push which netted them two goals in a span of six minutes. The second goal – coming on junior Taylor Ledwith's fourth goal of the year – cut the Eastern lead to one with 1:42 remaining. Within one, Worcester pulled freshman goalie Kathryn Salemme in favor of an extra attacker the rest of the way, but could not must a shot on goal.
With just one goal on her resume through the first 32 games of her career, sophomore midfielder Gabriela Meza (Norwalk) authored a pair of scores against Worcester, and junior tri-captain Laura Chicorka (Enfield) contributed her third of the season on junior forward Hannah Keiser's (Danbury) team-leading seventh assist (the third-highest number in a season in program history).
While scoring leader Alex Kallgren (Dudley, MA) was held without a shot, the freshman forward initiated Eastern's first two goals off penalty corners.
With her team trailing 3-0, Worcester junior scoring leader Julie O'Rourke got one back with her team-leading 12th goal of the season with just under eight minutes left that capped a steady stream of pressure in the Eastern end. O'Rourke then set up the team's second goal six minutes later that sliced the Warriors' lead to one.
Sophomore goalie Samantha Scavo (Redding) made seven saves in net for Eastern, three coming in the late stages of the second half. Salemme was called upon for just one as the visitors amassed a 12-8 advantage in shots. After the Warriors dominated with an 8-3 margin in first-half penalty corners, Worcester countered by being awarded six of the eight in the second half.
The victory ends a streak of five straight setbacks at the hands of Worcester for Eastern, which was outscored 16-5 in those games.
