SALEM, Mass. – A disappointing season for last year's Little East Conference playoff champion Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team ended on a positive note when the Warriors put behind them a three-game losing streak with a season-ending 5-2 Little East Conference victory at Salem State University's Alumni Field Saturday afternoon.
 
One year after finishing in third place and going on to its first LEC playoff title, the Warriors failed to qualify for the eight-team LEC playoffs for only the second time in eight years. Eastern was eliminated this past week with a 2-0 home loss to Framingham State University, finishing two games behind the eighth-seeded Rams.
 
In its seventh straight win over Salem State (4-12, 2-10 LEC), Eastern (7-11, 4-8 LEC), Eastern never trailed, with senior defender Katelyn Miller's (Wallingford) breaking a 1-1 tie early in the second quarter and sophomore Liz LaMarco (West Hartford), first-year player Emma Sanson (Thomaston) and sophomore Michaela Ellis (Mystic) scoring eight minutes apart in the fourth quarter to break the game open. Junior Kaylee Drobish's (Wallingford) fifth goal of the season had staked Eastern to a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter before the Vikings tied it three minutes into the second quarter.
 
In her final career game, senior defender Grace Mangiameli (Suffield) contributed her first assist of the season. Also playing in her final game, graduate student Bryce Makula (Guilford) assisted on Sanson's goal, boosting her into a tie for fourth all-time with 15 career assists.
 
The goal was LaMarco's seventh this year, Sanson's team-leading eighth and was the first in the career of Ellis. With eight goals and 20 points, Sanson becomes the first freshman to finish as the team goals and points leader since LEC Rookie-of-the-Year and all-region selection Sharon Kilpatrick totalled 12 goals and 29 points in 2001. As a first-year junior in 2018, Morgan Sanson (older sister of Emma) led the team in goals (7), assists (4) and points (18).
 
Senior goalies Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor) and Erin Fainer (Thomaston) split time in goal, with Fainer's one save the only save recorded by the duo.