Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. –  Five was the magic number for the Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team, which jumped to an early lead and was never threatened in a 13-6 non-conference victory over Framingham State University Wednesday afternoon at Rick McCarthy.
 
Eastern opened the game with five straight goals and later put together another five-goal run in the second half that powered it to its first 5-0 start to a season in the 30-year history of the program under second-year head coach Devyne Doran '17, the former head coach at Framingham.
 
In ending a three-game losing streak at the hands of Framingham (1-3) in the six-game series, Eastern won more than 20 ground balls for the third straight game, forced at least 20 turnovers for the second straight game and collected at least 30 shots for the third straight game, and displayed the clock management throughout the match which helped limit the Rams's possessions and to only 18 total shots.
 
First-year graduate midfielder Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford) – one of the national leaders in draw controls in a four-year career at Wheaton College – helped Eastern nearly double the Rams' draw control total by corralling five, with junior attack Alexa Vizzini (Vernon, NJ) winning four and graduate midfielder Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford) and senior midfielder Abby Parisi (Fairfield) each winning two.
 
Parisi leads the team in draws, with 20, with LeBeau right behind with 19, with their totals giving Eastern a +22 in that category this year over its opponent.
 
Eastern got goals from five different players and led 5-0  just 11 minutes into action, three of the strikes coming on free-position attempts, and Drobish assisting on the other two. After the Rams closed to within 6-4 by scoring consecutive goals for the second and only time in the match, Eastern strung together another clinching five-goal run that made it 11-4 midway through the fourth quarter.
 
In all, Eastern's defense and offensive ball control kept the Rams off the board for stretches of 12 minutes in the first quarter and seven minutes in the second half.
 
Among the national leaders in goals-against average, first-year goalie Maizie Rukat (Manchester, VT) stopped eight shots – never allowing Framingham more than two goals in a quarter and to a total of only two goals in the middle two periods.  While Rukat's GAA ticked up a half-a-point, she pushed her save percentage over 50 percent to .514.
 
Framingham junior goalie Bella DiMare made ten of her 15 saves in the first half that kept her team within three goals, 6-3, at halftime.
 
Five different players won at least three ground balls: Rukat, Parisi, senior defender Addison Twohill (Hamden), junior attack Sydney Goyette (Westfield, MA), and senior defender Emma Oliano (Wallingford). Parisi led field players with four ground balls, including the 100^th of her career.
 
Balance characterized the team's offense, with eight players dividing the team's 19 points. Vizzini had three goals and two assists, Drobish a goal and three assists and Goyette three goals. Vizzini, Parisi, LeBeau and Goyette combined to take 33 of the team's 40 shots.
 
Half of Framingham's goals came in extra-man situations, with two of Goyette's three goals coming with the player advantage.  A total of 14 green and yellow cards were assessed for a total of 20 penalty minutes.
 
Eastern faces Connecticut College and Bard College at Hilton Head, SC during spring break before returning home to host Kean University in a non-conference match March 26 and visiting Western Connecticut State University March 29 in the Little East Conference opener. Eastern is ranked second in the LEC coaches' pre-season poll, Western Connecticut third.