LEC CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

NEW HAMPTON, N.H. – The Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team had little to gain Saturday afternoon when it closed out its 2015 Little East Conference regular season at co-leader Plymouth State University, a four-time conference regular-season and three-time LEC playoff champion.

The fact that the outcome would not affect the team's No. 4 seed in the upcoming LEC playoffs did nothing to discourage the Warriors from putting the finishing touches on its finest conference regular season ever by upending the Panthers, 3-2, at the New Hampton School in a milestone victory that did more than deny Plymouth (11-5, 9-2 LEC) the outright conference regular-season title.

In a match where Eastern (11-6, 8-3 LEC) never trailed, senior Brianna Passero (Trumbull) broke a tie with the only goal of the second half, beating Plymouth goalie Alivia Bates – last year's LEC Rookie-of-the-Year – 12 minutes into the half as the Warriors finished with a record eight LEC regular-season wins and tied the program record for overall wins, set 14 years ago.

The victory over Plymouth – last year's ECAC New England tournament champion -- is the first for  Eastern after losing the previous 19 in the series and comes five short years after a 10-0 disaster at the hands of the Panthers in a 2010 regular-season loss. It also give the Warriors the first four-game winning streak in program history.

Eastern will host fifth-seeded Westfield State University in a first-round playoff match Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex – the team's first playoff home match in 18 years of conference completion. Westfield defeated Worcester State University, 3-2, to break a two-way tie for fifth. The Warriors shut out Westfield, 2-0, 11 days ago at Westfield, MA.

Despite settling for the regular-season co-championship with UMass Dartmouth and Keene State College, Plymouth earned the No. 1 seed via tie-breakers and will host eighth-seeded Fitchburg State University in a first-round match Tuesday.

Passero, who had scored two goals in the first 26 matches of her career prior to this year, recorded her sixth and seventh of the year – second best on the team to sophomore Alex Kallgren (Dudley, MA) – against Plymouth. Senior Laura Chicorka (Enfield) and Passero scored  1:24 apart in the opening 12 minutes to stake Eastern to a quick 2-0 lead, and after the hosts evened the score with two goals in less than eight minutes later in the half, Passero and Chicorka (team-leading ninth assist/the third-most in a season in program history) hooked up for the game-winning goal.

Plymouth, which ends the regular season with two losses in four days, outshot Eastern, 12-9, but could not capitalize on any of its 12 penalty corners (Eastern had three). Eastern senior goalie Samantha Scavo (Redding) stopped eight shots, holding the Panthers off the board over the final 42 minutes.