Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team allowed a goal off the initial draw of the match nine seconds into action against Plymouth State University in a Little East Conference match Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
As it turned out, it would prove to be one of the Warriors rare mistakes on the day. Eastern (5-5, 2-0 LEC) trailed only twice in the game and never by more than one goal and never played from behind after junior midfielder Abby Parisi (Fairfield) tied the match on a free-position goal with one second left in the first quarter.
 
Ranked fifth in the LEC pre-season coaches' poll after last year's fifth-place finish, Eastern ended a seven-game losing streak at the hands of Plymouth (4-6, 0-2 LEC) with a 14-10 victory over the Panthers, who won their ninth LEC playoff title last year and were ranked No. 1 in the LEC pre-season coaches' poll.
 
After Parisi's goal tied the match at 4-4 after one quarter, the Warriors seized the momentum in the second quarter when five different players contributed to a 6-2 scoring burst that lifted them into a 10-6 halftime advantage.  In that second quarter, the Warriors scored the first three goals – two by Parisi – and answered both Plymouth goals in that period in immediate fashion. Forty-three seconds after Megan Gaspa  scored Plymouth's first goal of the period, sophomore Katie Campbell (Denver) answered, and after Gaspa scored her team's second of the quarter with two minutes left, sophomore Sydney Goyette (Westfield, MA) regained the momentum for Eastern heading into the second half with her 20^th goal of the season with 19 seconds left before the half.
 
Eastern got points from eight different players and its ability to manage the clock kept the ball out of Plymouth's possession for long stretches, but it was the defense which set the tone for the game by holding the Panthers without a goal for long stretches. Plymouth was never able to score as many as three successive goals – managing two in a row only once in the first quarter and once in the third  -- and was held off the board for a stretch of 10+ minutes in the first quarter, 14 minutes in the second and eight in the third.
 
After Sammy Murphy and Elle Moshier connected on consecutive goals for Plymouth early in the third quarter that cut Eastern's margin to 10-8, sophomore attack Alexa Vizzini (Vernon, NJ) and Parisi struck for goals four minutes apart that stemmed the tied and lifted the Warriors into a four-goal lead with 18 minutes left in the game.
 
Although Plymouth piled up 35 shots, senior transfer goalie Mackenzie Brown (Southington) equalled her season-high with 15 saves as the Panthers equalled their fourth-lowest scoring output of the season. Seven of Brown's saves in the all-important second quarter, when the visitors'13 shots at net netted them just two goals.
 
Junior defender Addison Twohill (Hamden), first on the team in caused turnovers and second on ground balls this year, forced four turnovers and also had two ground balls; Vizzini  won four draws, with Parisi and first-year transfer defender Neely Hart (Colchester) each winning three ground balls.
 
The Warriors were successful on 21 of 25 clears – thanks in large part to the speed of first-year defender Grace Saldaña (Colchester), who was able to outrun Plymouth's coverage in carrying the ball out of her team's defensive end.
 
Vizzini led Eastern offensively with four goals and two assists, with Parisi adding four goals (connecting on the team's only two free-position strikes), and Hart contributing two assists.
 
Julia Donovan, Terryn O'Brien and Maddie Hunt – Plymouth's scoring leaders with a combined total of 73 goals this year -- found the back of the net only three times on 17 shots.  Jenna Stowell helped Plymouth to its largest statistical advantage in the game when she won 11 draws – three more that Eastern's entire team.
 
Eastern visits Framingham State University Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in a non-conference makeup match.