PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Despite a large disparity in penalty corners, the Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team had emerged with one-goal wins in its first two Little East Conference matches this year.
 
Friday night at Panther Field, Eastern (5-2, 3-1 LEC) was not quite as lucky as Plymouth State University (5-3, 3-2 LEC) out-cornered the Warriors 11-0 in the second half when it scored twice to overcome a 1-0 halftime deficit and post a 2-1 victory.
 
The Warriors' loss to Plymouth in the fifth straight game decided by a goal between the teams at Panther Field eliminates Eastern as the only unbeaten conference team. Ranked eighth in the LEC coaches' pre-season poll, Eastern drops into a three-way tie atop the standings with the University of Southern Maine and Keene State College.
 
Eastern had been out-cornered by Southern Maine and Keene State by an aggregate 28-11 earlier this year but had come away with 3-2 overtime victories in both, using a penalty stroke late in overtime by senior Brianna Nolan (Waterford) to subdue Southern Maine and a goal by sophomore Isabel Sanchez (Weston) on the way to winning its first three conference matches for the first time ever.
 
Eastern had entered play having won a record five straight regular-season contests but had been idle since last Saturday when a midweek LEC match at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth was postponed twice, first due to rain and the second due to a lack of available officials.
 
Friday, Nolan's team-high seventh goal – 18^th of her career – on a penalty stroke had staked Eastern to a 1-0 lead with five minutes left in the first half before the Panthers dominated the second half with constant pressure and forcing Eastern into fouls and violations that led to penalty corners. With the Warriors spending most of the second half defending inside their defensive circle, Plymouth senior Natalie Perry scored her second and third goals of the season eight minutes apart in the fourth quarter as the hosts snapped a two-game LEC losing streak.
 
Plymouth matches the win total of the three LEC leaders, but has played one additional LEC contest.
 
The loss spoiled a remarkable effort in goal by junior Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor), who kicked out 13 of her career-high 15 saves in the second half and benefited from two defensive saves that kept the match tied in the third quarter.
 
In fact, Perry's go-ahead goal with 11 minutes left came off a rebound after Gallagher had made successive saves. The tying goal followed a penalty corner inserted by sophomore Athena Comeau. The hit-in went to the near side of the circle to Perry, who took one quick touch and drilled the ball past three Eastern defenders who were unable to knock it down and  past Gallagher, who had come off her line to cut down the angle.
 
Plymouth had 16 penalty corners – the most allowed by Eastern this year – with both of the Warriors' corners coming in the second quarter.
 
Plymouth had a 24-9 advantage in shots – 17-0 in the second half. The Warriors were credited with seven of their shots when they took the 1-0 lead in the second quarter. Nolan had three of the team's shots, with sophomore Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford) and first-year player Brooke Mercier (Washinigton) coming off the bench for two each.
 
Eastern hosts Salve Regina University in a non-conference match Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Rick McCarthy Field. Salve leads the series, 4-3, and has captured the last two.