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FH vs. psu

Field Hockey: Overtime Victory Gives Warriors LEC Playoff Home Match Tuesday

Box Score

MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team kept its season alive in a thrilling overtime 1-0 victory over Plymouth State University at Rick McCarthy Field Saturday afternoon, nailing down the No. 4 seed in the Little East Conference playoffs and securing a first-round home match.
 
On Tuesday at 2 p.m., Eastern (7-10, 2-4 LEC) will host No. 5 seed and defending champion University of Southern Maine (6-13, 2-4 LEC), which routed Western Connecticut State University, 6-2, on the road Saturday. Eastern, Southern Maine and Massachusetts Dartmouth entered play tied for fifth place. UMass Dartmouth, which held the tie-breaker over Eastern with a 2-1 regular-season win over the Warriors, was eliminated following a 5-2 loss at VTSU Castleton. Eastern defeated Southern Maine, 4-1, Oct. 12 at McCarthy Field.
 
Plymouth (9-9, 3-3 LEC) is seeded third in the playoffs and will host No. 6 Western Connecticut (7-12, 2-4 LEC) in the other first-round match.
 
Senior midfielder Jakhelin Cota (Norwalk) scored her first goal of the season --  third of her career -- two minutes into sudden death overtime period – and senior goalie Kiana Webster (Raymond, ME) made four saves to record her first full shutout of the season in seven weeks. Cota's goal was assisted by senior Liz LaMarco  (West Hartford) who recorded her third assist of the year.
 
The home win over Plymouth (9-8, 3-3 LEC) was Eastern's fourth in the last five contests and improves the Warriors' home record to 6-3 this year. The Panthers had won four straight before dropping a 3-2 LEC home decision to Castleton on Wednesday. In its only other overtime match this year, Eastern lost by the same 1-0 score to Keene State College (seeded second in the LEC playoffs) at McCarthy Field a week ago.
 
Eastern outshot Plymouth, 22-14 in a match which featured 27 penalty corners (14 by Eastern) but Plymouth graduate goalie Kayla Antonucci – who has split time this year with senior Piper Sherbert – kicked out 11 shots to help keep the match scoreless through 60 minutes of regulation.
 
Junior forward Emma Sanson (Thomaston) had six shots with two shots on goal while graduate student forward Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford) had three total shots – all on goal.
 
Plymouth senior forward Taylor Healey, who was named NFHCA National Offensive Player-of-the Week with eight goals and 17 points in a 3-0 week last week, managed six hots Saturday, with Webster turning away the two which reached net.
 
The overtime match was the fourth in the 31-game history of the series, with Plymouth winning both times on its home field and losing, 4-3, at Eastern in 2018 in a match where the Warriors erased a 3-0 deficit.
 
Since winning the 2021 LEC playoff title in 2021 against Keene, Eastern did not qualify for the LEC playoffs in 2022 and was eliminated as the fifth seed in the first round last year, 5-2, at Castleton during a three-win season.
 
 
 
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