Box Score
MANSFIELD,Conn. – For the first time in a series dating back 28 years, the home field did not prove to be an advantage for the Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team, which dropped a 16-6 non-conference decision to Montclair State University Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
In addition to ending a two-game win streak (against two of the lower-ranked teams in the Little East Conference), the timing could not have been worse for Eastern (4-6), which was celebrating its Senior Day.
 
The Warriors were 0-2 against Montclair (5-4) on the Red Hawks' home field, but had captured all three previous matches at home – the first by double-digits and the last two by one goal each.
 
In contrast to Eastern's previous two home-win squeakers, this game lacked any real drama after the opening minutes as the Red Hawks – who have lost three of their four matches to nationally-ranked teams -- improved to 4-1 on the road this year.
 
Senior attack Alexis Vizzini (Vernon, NJ), the only Eastern player with multiple goals, scored her team-leading  33^rd and 34^th goals of the season to first tie the game, then give Eastern its only lead, 3-2, nine minutes into play.
 
To Eastern's dismay, it was all Montclair the rest of the way as the Red Hawks ripped off the next six goals of the game – three of them in man-up opportunities – to move out to an 8-3 lead with three minutes left in the first half. In that 15-minute run, Montclair got two goals each from Kaeley Sek and Kyra Morena.
 
After Vizzini's two early goals – she would add the 194^th goal of her career with Eastern trailing 10-4 five minutes into the second half – the Warriors were never able to connect on as many as two in a row the rest of the game.
 
In a match plagued by a flurry of green and yellow cards, Eastern was unable to capitalize on eight one-minute green cards assessed to Montclair, with Emma Oliano's (Wallingford) game-opening goal  63 seconds into action the Warriors' only extra-man strike.  Montclair managed to net four extra-man goals on the seven cards issued to Eastern.
 
In her first career start in goal, Eastern senior  Kasi DaCruz (Suffield) turned back 13 shots while Montclair senior Joey Grotkopf needed only seven saves (on only 17 Eastern shots) to record her fifth win in nine decisions.
 
As the team, Montclair recorded 14 caused turnovers which led directly to Eastern's 31 turnovers.
 
In addition to three goals, Vizzini won four draws and sophomore Hannah Seltzer (Westerly, RI) three in allowing the Warriors to evenly split the game's 24 draws. Junior defender Grace Saldana (Colchester) had four ground balls and caused three turnovers, while sophomore midfielder Jocelyn Kennedy (Southington) won four ground balls and two draws, senior defender Alexa Coty (Old Saybrook) winning three ground balls and causing a turnover and junior defender Sophia Ramino (Haddam-Killingworth) capturing three ground balls and claiming a draw.
 
For the Red Hawks, Lukovic and Sek combined to record ten of their team's 12 draws, while Lexi Robinson led the defense by causing five turnovers and winning six ground balls to go along with connecting on two free-position goals.

Balance being its trademark all season long, Montclair got points (a goal or assist) from nine different players, with Lukovic (four goals), Sek (three goals) and Cara McCartney (two goals, three assists) leading the way.
 
Eastern (2-1 LEC) closes out the regular season with five Little East Conference matches beginning Monday with a makeup game against Plymouth State University (4-7, 2-2 LEC) at 4 p.m. at Panther Field. The Panthers, who eliminated Eastern in the LEC semifinals, earned an at-large bid to last year's NCAA tournament after reaching the LEC playoff title game.

 Eastern returns home Wednesday at 4 p.m. to face Keene State College (5-8, 2-2 LEC), a team which the Warriors eliminated in the first round of last year's LEC playoffs at Keene, NH.