MANSFIELD, Conn. --  Having lost its top two scorers from its 2021 Little East Conference championship season a year ago, the Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team entered the 2022 season in search of its Next Big Goal-Scorer.
 
Saturday afternoon, sophomore forward Liz LaMarco (West Hartford) staked a claim to that title when she fell just a point shy of tying the program record for points in a match by scoring three goals and assisting on two more as the Warriors routed Regis College, 8-0, at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
LaMarco, a complementary, but solid, scorer and playmaker with six goals and six assists in her first year last fall behind LEC Offensive Player-of-the-Year Brianna Nolan and Isabel Sanchez – the pair combining for 25 goals and 54 points – got Eastern (1-1) off to a quick 2-0 lead Saturday with her second and third goals of the season in the first 17 minutes, later assisted on consecutive Eastern goals that made it 5-0 three minutes into the fourth quarter, and added her third goal of the game five minutes later.
 
LaMarco became the 14^th player in program history to score at least three goals in a match and her eight points are second only to Khiara Valentine, who had four goals and nine points five years ago against Salem State University.
 
After edging Regis (0-1) by 2-1 scores in each of the first three meetings between the program, Eastern broke open the match Saturday with four goals in seven minutes in the fourth quarter.
 
First-year forward Emma Sanson (Thomaston) had her first career points when she recorded her first career goal to make it 3-0 a minute into the second half. She also assisted on LaMarco's second goal for her first career assist, and picked up a second assist when the Warriors closed out the scoring with four minutes left behind sophomore forward Brooke Mercier's (Washington) first goal of the year. Off the bench,sophomore forward Michaela Ellis (Mystic) was also credited with her first collegiate point when she assisted on LaMarco's final goal.
 
All-LEC defender Bryce Makula (Guilford), the MVP of last year's Little East tournament, scored twice to equal her previous career goal. Her second goal that made it 7-0 with six minutes left, came off a penalty corner by forward Angelina Falleni (Byram, NJ), giving the first-year forward her first career point.
 
Eastern's three goalies combined for two saves, with senior Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor) playing the first half and moving into a tie for third place all-time  with her 14^th career win. Sophomore Kiana Webster (Raymond, ME) made one save over the final seven minutes in her first career appearance.
 
Eastern piled up large advantages in shots (23-4) and penalty corners (19-3). The Pride were kept out of the circle until taking their first shot (which went wide) with ten minutes left in the first half and were prevented from taking a penalty corner for the first 32 minutes.
 
Eastern visits Mount Holyoke College Tuesday at 6 p.m. before opening its LEC season at home Saturday against the University of Southern Maine at 1 p.m.