PLYMOUTH, N.H. – There were no surprises on the final day of the Little East Conference field hockey regular season, which was good news to Eastern Connecticut State University and allowed the Warriors to qualify for the conference playoffs for the seventh time in the last nine years despite a 2-0 loss to Plymouth State University Saturday at Panther Field.
 
Despite Eastern's (3-13-1, 1-5 LEC) tenth loss in its last 11 games and just one conference victory, the Warriors received the playoff's fifth seed and will travel to a first-round match Tuesday against fourth-seeded Vermont State Castleton (10-7, 3-3 LEC), which aided Eastern's cause by smothering the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 5-0, on the road Saturday, which made the Corsairs the odd team out of the six-team playoffs.
 
After both Eastern and UMass Dartmouth lost early Saturday, the Warriors held their breath as WestConn battled unbeaten top seeded University of Southern Maine later in the day. A WestConn win would have earned the Wolves the No. 5 seed and left Eastern out in the cold on the basis of a 2-1 overtime regular-season home loss to UMass Dartmouth  which would have given the tie-breaker for the No. 6 seed to UMass Dartmouth on the basis of the head-to-head win.
 
Against USM, WestConn led, 1-0, at halftime before the Huskies eventually wrapped up a perfect LEC regular season by scoring twice in five minutes in the second half to deny the Wolves' upset bid.
 
Eastern had lost 21 of the first 22 matches against Plymouth in the series but had bounced back in recent years to win four of the previous seven heading into Saturday's match.
 
With the Panthers already assured of a No. 3 seed and a first-round home match Tuesday, senior Taylor Healey scored her 22^nd and 23^rd goals of the year to power Plymouth (11-5, 4-2 LEC) to its fourth straight win, a streak which included a 3-2 overtime road win over VTSU Castleton. Healey's first goal came less than five minutes into the contest, but the Warriors held firm for the next 30 minutes before Healey's second goal made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half.
 
For the second time in an LEC loss, the Warriors dominated the stat sheet. After outshooting UMass Dartmouth 23-4 and out-cornering the Corsairs, 19-1, in the 2-1 overtime loss in September, Eastern outshot the Panthers Saturday by 19-8 and out-cornered the hosts, 16-3.
 
Sophomore goalie Hannah Jalowiec (Cheshire) made three saves in net while PSU senior goalie Kayla Antonucci turned away 12 shots in posting her third shutout.