Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Sophomore defender Devyne Doran (South Kingstown, RI) won seven ground balls and caused four turnovers and the Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team scored three late goals to hold off the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 13-8, Tuesday afternoon in a Little East Conference match at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
The season leader in ground balls and caused turnovers, Doran helped Eastern (4-9, 2-2 Little East) end a three-game losing streak and hand UMass Dartmouth's (1-10, 0-3 Little East) its seventh straight loss.
The Warriors were in command of a 6-1 lead six minutes into the second half but needed to tack on three goals in the final four minutes to prevent UMD from recording its first conference win in four years. Sophomore attack Taylor Hill's (Braintree, MA) first goal of the match with just under six minutes left sliced Eastern's once-healthy lead to two, 10-8 before freshman midfielder Maggie Bodington (Stratford) and freshman attack Allison Wylie (Ellington) scored 14 seconds apart and first-year sophomore Bianca Jacques (Berlin) settled matters with a free position goal with two minutes remaining that produced the final five-goal differential.
Jacques scored Eastern's first and last goals and led all players in the game with four goals. After Bodington made it 11-8 with 3:52 left, sophomore midfielder Caroline Regan (Niantic) won the ensuing draw and Jacques recorded her only assist when she set up Wylie with 3:38 left that advanced Eastern's lead to 12-8.
With Eastern owning a comfortable five-goal lead midway through the second half, UMass scored three times in three minutes. Junior midfielder and team scoring leader Colleen Kane – limited to one goal through the first 45 minutes, scored her 30th and 31st goals 23 seconds apart to make it 9-6, and sophomore attack Jess Miles made it 9-7 with a free position goal with eight minutes left. At that point, sophomore midfielder Paige Schneider (East Lyme) answered with a key goal – her team-leading 30th of the year – on a free position shot that snapped the Corsair's run and restored Eastern's three-goal lead with seven minutes left.
Senior attack Meg Eremita (South Windsor) led all players in the game with six points, her three goals extending her conference-leading total to 33.
Regan and senior defender Olivia Mullen (Bethel) followed Doran with four ground balls each and Bodington helped Eastern to a 14-9 edge in draw controls, with four, sophomore midfielder Karen Trescott (Somers) winning three.
In addition to her three goals, Kane picked up five ground balls, won four draws and caused two turnovers. Senior defender Sarah Kalmes led her team with six ground balls.
Eastern visits the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference match.
