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Eastern Connecticut State University

Official Site of Eastern Connecticut State University Athletics
Aly Kendrick

Field Hockey: Warriors Show Grit, Erase Two-Goal Deficit in One-Goal Loss

Box Score WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Eastern Connecticut State University women's field hockey team battled back from two goals down to tie the match late in the first half by scoring twice in four minutes before eventually dropping a 3-2 non-conference decision to Westfield State University Tuesday evening at Alumni Field.

The Warriors (5-8) have lost six of their last seven games  this year and eight of the last nine in the all-time series with Westfield (9-7), which has won six of its last seven following a 3-6 start.

The Owls started the game strong with a 2-0 lead. An early goal by junior Erin Lane, her fourth of the season, came off of a penalty corner taken by Leah Pierce almost nine minutes into the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Owls scored their second goal off of a Warrior turnover. The first shot was saved by Eastern goalie Kiana Webster (Raymond, ME) before senior Meredith Higgins of Westfield State found the back of the net.

Responding three minutes later, junior Emma Sanson (Thomaston) scored her team-leading eighth goal of the year off of a penalty corner. This goal was assisted by sophomore Grace Barlage (Guilford), who went on to score a goal of her own -- her fourth of the season -- to tie the game four minutes later on   sophomore forward Sophie Ash's  (Mystic) second assist of the year.

In the second half, the Owls broke the tie with each Pierce scoring what proved to be the  winning goal, assisted by Abby Clark and Kaleigh Murphy. Pierce took the penalty corner that the goal stemmed from. Junior goalie Hannah Jalowiec (Cheshire) played in her third game this season -- the first in nearly a month -- making two saves after taking over to start the second half from Webster, also credited with two saves. Emma Gniadek had eight stops for Westfield.

Each team had 12 shots while Eastern won the penalty corner battle, 4-2.

Eastern hosts Albertus Magnus College Thursday at 2 p.m. in a non-conference makeup match at Rick McCarthy Field before playing its third match in six days Saturday against visiting Keene State College in a Little East Conference match on Senior Day at 4 p.m.

A seventh-year program, Albertus (2-13)  is under the direction of second-year head coach Keira Integlia, Eastern's starting goalie from 2018 through 2020 before serving as a two-year starting goalie as a graduate student at the University of New Haven. At Eastern, Integlia started all 38 matches (five during the Covid-abbreviated 2020 season). She is currently ranked among the all-time top five goalies at Eastern in matches, starts, shutouts, saves, save percentage and wins.

 
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