MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team remained in contention to win its first Little East Conference regular-season championship Wednesday afternoon, scoring both of its goals in the first three minutes of the second half in posting a 2-0 victory over Western Connecticut State University at Rick McCarthy Field.
With its second LEC win in less than 48 hours, Eastern (9-4, 7-2 LEC) moves to within a half-game of conference leader Keene State College, which was scheduled to host Worcester State University Wednesday night. Keene is 7-1, Worcester a half-game behind the Warriors at 6-2.
The victory over a team ranked ahead of it in the LEC pre-season poll is the fourth this year for the Warriors, rated No. 8 in the 13-team conference in the pre-season. In addition to beating third-ranked WestConn (6-7, 4-5 LEC), Eastern has beaten second-ranked Keene (3-2 in overtime) and fifth-ranked Castleton University (3-0) – both at home -- and fourth-ranked University of Southern Maine (3-2 in overtime) on the road.
WestConn had shared second place in the 2019 LEC final standings and had advanced to the LEC playoff semifinals and was coming off successive 4-0 beatdowns of the Warriors in the last two meetings between the teams. The Warriors have now downed WestConn in four of the last five meetings played at Rick McCarthy Field.
Wednesday, WestConn survived an early Eastern onslaught of six shots in the first seven minutes – junior goalie Kayla Hnasko (Raritan, NJ) making four of her five first-quarter saves in that stretch – and countered with its own offensive barrage that resulted in four saves in 30 seconds by Eastern junior goalie
Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor).
Following a scoreless first half, Eastern struck quickly after the break, getting goals from first-year forward
Liz LaMarco (West Hartford) and first-year forward
Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford) just 25 seconds apart and never losing the momentum over the final 27 minutes.
Senior midfielder
Bryce Makula's (Guilford) long hit in from the top of the circle set up LaMarco's sixth goal of the season to make it 1-0, and Drobish connected on a perfect feed from sophomore forward
Isabel Sanchez (Weston) for her second goal of the season off of LaMarco's penalty corner to give the hosts a two-goal advantage. After starting the first 12 matches, Sanchez came off the bench for the first time and needed only nine minutes to record her second assist of the year. LaMarco (6) and Makula (5) rank 1-2 on the team in assists.
Gallagher kicked out six shots for her eighth win in 12 decisions and third shutout of the year – first since back-to-back efforts in late September. Hnasko also made six saves in 38 minutes before leaving on the short end of a 2-0 decision with 7:26 left in the third quarter.
Since losing two straight for the only time this year, Eastern has won four of its last five (all in conference play). WestConn had its first two-game winning streak of the year snapped with the loss, sustaining its fifth shutout of the season – its third in LEC competition.
Eastern's nine wins are its third-most ever in a season. The 2015 team won a record 13 and reached the LEC final for the only time and the 2001 club finished with 11 victories and advanced to the LEC semifinals. The seven LEC regular-season wins equal the second-most in a season in program history.
Eastern visits Worcester State Saturday and Framingham State University Tuesday before closing out the LEC regular season Oct. 30 at home against Salem State University. The top eight teams in the final LEC regular-season standings qualify for the playoffs, which get underway at the site of the higher seeds Nov. 2.
