MANSFIELD, Conn. – Struggling with a three-game losing streak and unable to get any traction through more than one half of Tuesday afternoon's Little East Conference field hockey match with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Eastern Connecticut State University struck for three goals in five minutes in the third quarter and went to a 4-0 victory at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
In a battle of teams looking for their first LEC win of the season, Eastern (3-5, 1-3 LEC) finally broke a scoreless halftime deadlock by scoring three times in five minutes and went on to its fifth victory over UMass Dartmouth (3-5, 0-3 LEC) in the last six meetings. Six different players contributed either a goal or assist or both.
 
Senior goalkeepers Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor) and Erin Fainer (Thomaston) combined on the team's third shutout of the year. Gallagher was uncalled upon for a save through her 45-minute stint in gaining her third win in seven decisions this year, while Fainer finished up with a scoreless fourth quarter, where she made two saves in the final 70 seconds to preserve the shutout. The Corsairs' three shots in the final 70 seconds were their only shots of the game against Eastern's starting defense spearheaded by graduate student Bryce Makula (Guilford, senior Grace Mangiameli (Suffield), junior Leah Kowalasky (Middlebury) and sophomore Aly Kendrick (North Branford).
 
The Warriors collected eight shots in a scoreless first half but capitalized on their first shot of the third quarter when Kowalasky netted her first of the season off the insertion of a penalty corner by first-year midfielder Angelina Falleni (Byram, NJ) midway through the period. Kowalasky cleanly ripped a knee-high shot through traffic to provide Eastern with the only goal that it would need.
 
Forward Emma Sanson (Thomaston), one of two first-year players in the starting lineup along with Falleni, made it 2-0 less than three minutes later with her fourth goal of the season on an assist from linemate Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford). The goal came 34 seconds after UMass Dartmouth's Maggie Doherty began serving a two-minute green-card infraction. Makula initiated the team's second goal when she got the ball to Drobish, who sent a centering pass from the right end line into the circle, which found the stick of Sanson from close range.
 
With a two-goal cushion, Eastern added a third goal just over two minutes later on sophomore forward Delia Champagne's (Richmond, RI) first career goal on a shot through traffic from the center of the circle set up by Kowalasky's feed. Drobish's third goal of the season with five minutes left rounded out the scoring. Drobish carried a long distance after taking a pass from Makula and beat UMass sophomore keeper Hannah Trombly with a breakaway shot that slipped through the five-hole.
 
Eastern hosts Plymouth State University in its third straight LEC match Saturday at 3 p.m., looking for its fourth straight home win over the Panthers. Eastern blanked Plymouth, 2-0, at home in last year's LEC playoffs on the way to a spot in the final and first playoff championship. Tuesday night, Plymouth (5-3, 3-1 LEC) lost its first LEC match and had a five-game winning streak ended with a 4-1 loss Keene State College.