Box Score  

MANSFIELD, Conn. – There is a theory that you don't enter a single-elimination tournament riding a long winning streak. The Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team made sure that that would not happen after a (mostly meaningless) 1-0 non-conference loss to first-time opponent Clark University Wednesday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field in the penultimate match of the regular season.
 
Already assured of the No. 1 seed and no worse than a share of the regular-season title – both firsts in program history – Eastern looks for its first unbeaten LEC regular season in 26 seasons of LEC competition (the LEC is only its third season of a six-game schedule after playing ten or more matches every year between 2000 and 2022) when it hosts conference opponent University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (2-15, 0-5 LEC) Saturday at noon in the regular-season finale.
 
As one of the top two finishers in the seven-team conference, Eastern has drawn a bye through Tuesday's first round and will host a semifinal round contest Thursday at 4 p.m. The Warriors will face the winner of a first-round contest between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. VTSU Castleton (7-9, 3-3 LEC) has completed its season and has already been assured of the No. 4 seed. Its first-round opponent will be determined Saturday.
 
In 17 matches, Eastern and Clark (now both 10-8 overall) were nearly identical in both goals scored and goals allowed, and Wednesday's closely-contested battle were a testament to that fact.
 
Playing their starters for all 60 minutes, the Cougars got ten saves from junior goalie Rachel Reiter and made a late second-period goal stand up to snap an Eastern five-game winning streak which had tied the regular-season record for consecutive wins set by the 2021 LEC playoff champions. It was Reiter's first shutout of the year and only third victory in ten decisions.
 
Four of Reiter's saves came in the fourth quarter when the Warriors turned up the pressure pressing for the tying goal. In the quarter, Eastern had four shots and six of its nine penalty corners. Four of the penalty corners came in a span of two minutes midway through the quarter. The first of the four penalty corners netted Eastern three consecutive shots (in close) by junior Sophie Ash (Mystic), and first-year players Mackenzie Ray (Grantham, NH) and Ada Ellis (Mystic), but Reiter kicked out each.
 
Eastern also benefited from two Clark green cards but the Warriors could not capitalize on the two-minute man-up advantages. The first came just over a minute after freshman Olivia Bass score the only goal of the match with 5:50 left in the second quarter and the second came with 5:48 left in the match.
 
Eastern senior Hannah Jalowiec (Cheshire) stopped two shots in goal in losing for the first time in the last six decisions. She is 7-3 on the season.