Box Score
DANBURY, Conn. – Western Connecticut State University freshman Nora Tracy came off the bench to break a tie by scoring her first career goal with nine minutes remaining, sending the Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team to its seventh straight road loss, 3-2, in a Little East Conference match Wednesday evening at the Westside Athletic Center.

The loss is Eastern's (6-10, 1-4 LEC) fifth in its last six matches and seventh straight away from Rick McCarthy Field after an opening 4-1 non-conference road victory over Bridgewater State University seven weeks ago. WestConn (7-11, 2-3 LEC) ended a two-game losing streak with only its third home victory in nine outings. Eastern had won its last three against WestConn and four of its previous five on the Wolves' turf.

Eastern and WestConn had entered play sharing fourth place in the seven-team conference. Eastern closes the regular season Saturday at home at 1 p.m. against Plymouth State University (9-7, 3-2 LEC), which dropped a 3-2 LEC home contest Wednesday to unbeaten conference leader VTSU Castleton (14-4, 5-0 LEC) – its first loss after four straight wins. Eastern has split its last six matches in the series with Plymouth.

The Warriors enter the final regular-season match Saturday sharing fifth place with the University of Southern Maine (5-13, 1-4 LEC) and Massachusetts Dartmouth (4-15, 1-4 LEC), with the top six finishers in the standings qualifying for the LEC playoffs, which get underway Tuesday with first-round matches.

Eastern holds the tie-breaker over Southern Maine with a 4-1 regular-season home win over the Huskies Oct. 12, while UMass Dartmouth holds the tie-breaker over Eastern with a 2-1 home victory Oct. 5.  Southern Maine defeated UMass Dartmouth, 6-1, at home Oct. 19. Southern Maine visits WestConn Saturday and UMass Dartmouth visits VTSU Castleton.

If Southern Maine defeats WestConn Saturday and both UMass Dartmouth and Eastern lose to their higher-ranked opponents, UMass Dartmouth, unofficially, will gain the sixth and final playoff seed based upon its regular-season win over Eastern. If all three of the tied teams lose Saturday, however, Eastern is given the No. 5 seed based upon least goals allowed (3) by the Warriors against Southern Maine and UMass Dartmouth, and Southern Maine would be No. 6 by having beaten UMass Dartmouth during the regular season.

While the Warriors struggled on the road this year, they excelled at home, winning five of eight, including the 4-1 victory over 2023 LEC champion Southern Maine. One of its home losses came last Saturday when the Warriors battled 14-time LEC playoff champion Keene State College on even terms for 60 minutes before the Owls escaped with a 1-0 overtime win. Eastern has won three of its last four at home against Plymouth, including a 4-3 overtime win in 2018 and a 4-1 triumph in 2020.In the overtime win, Eastern wiped out a 3-0 deficit with three second-half goals -- the third one tying it with two minutes left -- and Morgan Sanson (older sister of current junior Emma Sanson (Thomaston) -- won it five minutes into sudden-death overtime to cap the greatest comeback in program history.

Against WestConn, graduate player Kaylee Drobish's (Wallingford) fourth goal of the season had given Eastern the early lead nine minutes into action before WestConn countered with goals three minutes apart – with 2:12 left in the first quarter and 39 seconds into the second. All-LEC sophomore Grace Barlage (Guilford) tied the match six minutes into the second half with her fifth goal of the year before Tracy put her team back ahead six minutes into the fourth quarter.

Junior tri-captain Angelina Falleni (Byram, NJ) and sophomore Katie Harrington (Keene, NH) were credited with assists on Eastern's goal, the third of the season for Falleni and first for Harrington.

Eastern outshot WestConn, 17-12 and commanded a whopping 16-3 advantage on penalty corners. Senior Kiana Webster (Raymond, ME) and junior Hannah Jalowiec (Cheshire) combined on five saves.