Box Score DANBURY, Conn. – For the 14th time in the 16-year history of Little East Conference women's lacrosse, the regular season will produce an undefeated champion.
That was assured Tuesday when the two LEC unbeatens – Eastern Connecticut State University and Plymouth State University – extended winning streaks with road victories that has set up a winner-take-all regular-season final Saturday.
Tuesday, Eastern (12-4, 5-0 LEC) won its fourth straight match by handing Western Connecticut State University (7-9, 2-3 LEC) its first home loss, 13-8, while Plymouth State (9-2, 5-0 LEC) rolled to its ninth straight victory after two opening losses with a 13-6 triumph at two-time defending LEC playoff champion Keene State College.
In the regular-season finale Saturday at Plymouth State at 1 p.m., Eastern will look to complete its fifth unbeaten LEC regular season, while the host Panthers will look to clinch their ninth perfect LEC regular season. Both teams are already assured of first-round LEC playoff byes that will put them into the tournament semifinals, but the winner will gain the No. 1 seed and will be home for as long as it is alive in the tournament.
Eastern, which is 7-9 all-time on Plymouth's home field, was last unbeaten in the conference in 2011 while Plymouth was last perfect in 2015. Only one other team (Keene State in 2014) has finished undefeated in the LEC regular season.
In Eastern's 20th win over Western in 23 meetings in the series, senior midfielder Paige Schneider (East Lyme) became the ninth player in program history to reach 60 goals in a season, while junior attack Katie Burke (South Windsor) became the second player to total at least 40 assists in a season. Schneider's five goals improved her conference-leading haul to 63, while Burke's four helpers raised her season total to 41, six behind the season record set by E-Club Hall of Famer in 2005.
Against Western, Schneider and sophomore attack Michelina Pinto (Groton) beat Western senior goalie Missy O'Donnell 25 seconds apart in the opening minutes, and Schneider broke the only tie with her third of three goals in the opening half to give Eastern the lead for good, 4-3, ten minutes into action. Burke assisted on the team's first three goals.
Schneider's tie-breaking goal was the first of six in a row for the team as the Warriors raced to a 9-3 lead with six minutes left before the break. Pinto had one in that run to up her season total to 34, and junior attack Jenna Glynn (West Granby) had one goal and set up three of the other five goals with assists on the way to a career-game of two goals and four assists.
Western senior Destinee Carey, second only to Schneider in the conference with 52 goals, was held to one marker on eight shots, while junior Olivia Kosilla, second to Burke in the LEC in assists, with 31, scored six of her team's goals but did not have an assist.
The Warriors turned the ball over only 13 times – their second-lowest total of the year – and were perfect on all 19 of their clearing attempts.
Senior defender Devyne Doran (South Kingstown, RI) – last year's LEC Defensive Player-of-the-Year -- won eight of Eastern's 12 draws and matched Schneider's total of three caused turnovers. Schneider also led Eastern with four ground balls, Burke following with three.
Senior goalie Taylor Emmerson (Colchester) stopped ten shots to record her 12th victory in 16 starts. Only three goalies in program history have won more than 12 matches in a season. The career win was the 30th for Emmerson, the third-highest number in program history.
