MANSFIELD, Conn. – Senior goalie Robert Porter made 19 saves and held Eastern Connecticut State University off the board for 29 minutes midway through the contest as the fifth-seeded Plymouth State University men's lacrosse team advanced in the Little East Conference playoffs with a 10-6 first-round win over No. 4 Eastern Connecticut State University Tuesday evening at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
Porter defeated Eastern (6-6) for the first time in four starts, having lost 12-10 at McCarthy Field in 2019 and twice this year by scores of 7-2 and 9-6. After the Warriors scored four goals in five minutes to take their only lead, 4-3, Porter shut them out for 29 minutes and allowed them only two goals over the final 37 minutes to even his record this year at 4-4.
 
Plymouth (4-4) advances to the semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m. at top-seeded Massachusetts Boston. Eastern lost for only the second time in nine LEC playoff appears against Plymouth, all the games being played on the Warriors' home field.
 
One of Porter's most important saves came two minutes into the fourth quarter. With Eastern looking to cut into Plymouth's  7-4 lead, Porter stoned Eastern senior attack Kyle Cardoza (Waterford) on a point-blank fast break attempt. Two minutes later, Porter made another save on a shot by Eastern senior Jake Liebowitz (Trumbull) and junior midfielder Mike Donnelly connected for an unassisted goal off the clear to restore Plymouth's four-goal cushion, 8-4.
 
Eastern's only two goals of the second half came on an even-strength strike and a man-up goal by sophomore attack Shane Haggerty (Stamford) less than a minute apart that made it 8-6 but Porter shut Eastern out with three saves the rest of the way, and Donnelly and sophomore attack Mike Fleury fired in insurance goals two minutes apart in the final five minutes to secure the win.
 
Plymouth was coming off Sunday's 13-9 LEC home win over Castleton University that guaranteed it the No. 5 seed while Eastern had won its last two following a four-game losing streak.
 
Three Plymouth players did all the scoring. The team's assist leader, Fleury led all players in the game with four goals (on five shots), while Donnelly and freshman attack Nolan Burke each had three and team goal leader Riley Roy set up three goals with assists. Roy, a junior attack, entered the game with a team-high 17 goals in seven matches but was held scoreless on four shots.
 
Eastern senior midfielder Tyler Stein (Milford) won 12 of 14 faceoffs and nine ground balls for Eastern, giving him 28 wins in 36 attempts in three matches this year against Plymouth and improving his LEC-leading percentage to .718. Sophomore long stick Domenic Scarano (Berlin) caused five turnovers and won three ground balls and freshman attack Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) picked up five ground balls and freshman fielder Scott Galbo (East Lyme) four. Freshman midfielder David Harrold (Southington) was 4-for-5 from the faceoff X and helped the Warriors win 16 of 20 faceoffs as a team.
 
Graduate goalie Jack Farrell (Stratford) made seven saves for Eastern in the last of his 37 career appearances (30 starts).
 
Haggerty was the only Eastern player with more than one goal, finishing with the two he recorded a minute apart midway through the fourth quarter.