Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Junior forward Kaley Pratt (Milford, MA) came off the bench 13 minutes into the second half and scored her fifth goal of the season off a 40-yard free kick from junior back Krista Petersen (Wallingford) to snap a tie with 15:24 left and give top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Plymouth State University in the semifinal round of the Little East Conference women's soccer tournament Thursday night at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
Eastern moves into its ninth championship game since 1999 looking for its fifth title when it hosts third-seeded and defending champion Western Connecticut Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mansfield. Western won its second tournament match in three days with a 2-1 overtime win at No. 2 Keene State College Thursday night. Eastern and Western have met twice previously in the final, Western winning by 2-1 scores as the No. 1 seed over No. 2 Eastern in 2007 and 2008. The Colonials are 8-2 in championship games and are coming off last year's 1-0 overtime win over Keene.
Petersen, who along with back line teammate Lauren Valenti (Walpole, MA) was the only Eastern field player to play all 90 minutes, crushed a 40-yard free kick to Pratt's foot for what proved to be the winning goal. In picking up her first assist of the year, Petersen unloaded a blast which sailed over the entire Plymouth back line. Crashing in untouched from the right wing behind the Plymouth defense, Pratt's right foot re-directed the ball in stride. Plymouth senior keeper Annaliese Schmidt was stationed at the near post, but Pratt's one-timer managed to find a minute opening between the keeper and the post.
In Eastern's 3-1 regular-season win at Plymouth Sept. 24, Petersen put the Warriors ahead for good with her first goal of the year and Pratt later added an insurance goal.
All-New England Region junior forward Emily Becher (Brooklyn) had given Eastern (13-3-2) a 1-0 lead with 15:32 left in the first half with her 12th goal of the year, but Plymouth (9-6-3) tied the score just 3:25 before the half when junior midfielder Sophie Brisere one-timed her second goal of the year from the middle of the box under the crossbar from close range following a corner kick by senior forward Hannah Kallis.
In the first 22 minutes, Eastern couldn't capitalize on six outstanding chances and Plymouth came up empty on two before Becher gave Eastern the lead when she took a pass from senior midfielder Hailey Lehning (Woodbury) on the right flank, beat a defender with a substantial run and sent a low shot from a bad angle inside the far left post.
Plymouth had threatened on its first two corner kicks – sophomore midfielder Kate Martin sending Kallis' corner kick over the crossbar from inside the box eight minutes into play, and a header off the corner eight minutes later sailed just wide right.
Plymouth nearly broke a 1-1 tie midway through the second half when Martin fed the ball to freshman midfielder Lindsey Perkins in the box from the right side. Alone with the keeper, Perkins one-timed a shot which Eastern keeper Kayla Labrecque (Westhampton, MA) caught on her knees, lost possession, then covered up before the ball could roll over the goal line
Schmidt, the LEC leader in goals-against average and save percentage, made ten saves. Labrecque, second to Schmidt in both categories, made two.
