WESTFIELD, Mass. –   Eastern Connecticut State University sophomore Aly Kendrick's (North Branford) first career goal ten minutes into action held up for over 40 minutes before Westfield State University forced overtime with seven minutes left in regulation, then won the Little East Conference field hockey match with 47 seconds left in the first ten-minute overtime period in the Owls' 2-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Last year's LEC playoff champion, Eastern (5-8, 2-6 LEC) drops into a tie for ninth place in the 13-team conference with idle Salem State University. The top eighth teams qualify for next month's LEC playoffs. The Warriors play four of their final five regular-season contests in the conference.

Westfield (8-6, 5-3 LEC) junior forward Skyla Harthcock scored one goal, then assisted on Kaleigh Murphy's  game-winner as the Owls defeated Eastern for the sixth time in the last seven meetings.  The teams had not played into overtime since 2013, when the Owls won by the same score in a shootout at Alumni Field. Westfield began the day in seventh place and move into a tie for sixth with Castleton University.

Eastern was ranked No. 2 in the LEC pre-season coaches' poll, Westfield fifth.

Murphy found the backboard with the game winner with 47 seconds left in the first overtime.  Westfield's Bre Foley started the play with a long lead pass out of the back to Harthcock, who broke in clean on Eastern senior netminder Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor) on the left side, forcing Gallagher to come out and challenge. Harthock slid a pass across to Murphy at the last second, and Murphy calmly passed the ball into the back of the cage to give Westfield the win.

Eastern got on the scoreboard first, with five minutes left in the first quarter, scoring as Kendrick deflected sophomore Liz LaMarco's (West Hartford) shot from the top of the circle into the net on the remnants of a Warriors' penalty corner.

Eastern carried the better of the run of play early in the game.  Westfield answered in the second quarter, getting off eight shots to the Warriors two in the frame.  The Owls best chance came midway through the period on a penalty corner as Lily Spencer and Emily Martin  got off back-to-back shots, both saved by Gallagher.

Gallagher came up big in the third quarter, again thwarting the Owls as she dove to her right to save a shot from Westfield Sarah Richard to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Westfield finally leveled the game at 1-1 in the 53^rd minute of play, as Westfield's Martin fired a shot through traffic that was trickling towards the goal line before Harthcock dove in from the left post to push the ball across the line for the goal.

The Owls controlled the overtime period, getting off four shots to the Warriors none, as the Owls' depth appeared to become a distinct advantage as the 7-v-7 overtime period wore on.

Gallagher finished with eight saves, while Emma Gniadek needed to make only two for her third win in three decisions.   The Owls outshot the Warriors 19-7 , but held just a 7-6 advantage in penalty corners.

Eastern travels to Western Connecticut State University Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a Little East Conference match. WestConn won its first LEC contest after six losses Saturday at Bridgewater State University, 2-0. The Warriors also downed Bridgewater, 2-0, in the regular-season meeting at Bridgewater earlier this week. Eastern rebounded from 4-0 losses to WestConn in 2018 and 2019 last year with a 2-0 victory at Rick McCarthy Field.