Box Score FITCHBURG, Mass. – A year ago, the Warriors appeared primed to return to the Little East Conference field hockey playoffs after an eight year's absence. That was before the team lost five of its final six conference contests, landed in a three-way tie for seventh place, and was left out of the playoffs due to tiebreakers.
At right: Mackenzie Brower (Photo by Liam Murphy)
Tuesday night, the Warriors took another step toward that elusive LEC playoff berth by edging Fitchburg State University, 1-0, at Elliot Field. With its second victory over Fitchburg (4-5, 1-3 Little East) in the last two years, Eastern (6-3, 3-1 Little East) matches its conference start of a year ago.
With two-thirds of the conference seasons still ahead of it, Eastern is locked in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with Plymouth State University and Western Connecticut State University. The club's six overall wins exceed the entire win total of ten of its previous seasons.
Against Fitchburg, sophomore goalie Samantha Scavo (Redding) made seven saves for her conference-leading fourth shutout in nine starts, and junior back Mackenzie Brower's (Granby) first career goal in the 20th minute stood up.
In the first half, Fitchburg State nearly opened the scoring six minutes into the contest as junior forward Erin Morrissey and freshman Bailey Miller each fired shots on goal, but Scavo denied both opportunities to preserve the 0-0 stalemate..
Following intermission, the Falcons turned up the offensive pressure as Miller and classmate Casey Noonan had back-to-back point blank chances in the 53rd minute of action, but Scavo made a pair of sprawling saves as the Warriors defense was able to hold off Fitchburg State throughout the rest of the stanza, resulting in the 1-0 final.
The slim winning margin reflected the tightness of the match. The hosts held slim advantages in shots (12-10) and penalty corners (6-5) and the teams were equal with seven shots on net apiece.
Eastern junior Hannah Keiser (Danbury) and freshman Alex Kallgren (Dudley, MA) applied the offensive pressure, with five of their combined total of six shots ending up on net.
Throughout the match, Fitchburg State held a slim 12-10 advantage in shots, while also holding a 6-5 margin in penalty corners. In the cage, senior Lucy Holewa and junior Judith Valentin combined to make six saves for Fitchburg State.
Eastern travels to Plymouth State University for a Little East Conference match Saturday at 2 p.m.
