Box Score
MANSFIELD, Conn. – Over the first 25 minutes in Wednesday's match -- due in large part to the aggressive play of Eastern Connecticut State University -- the Western Connecticut State University Wolves did not resemble the women's lacrosse program which has dominated the Little East Conference in the post-Covid area.
Over the final 35 minutes, however, they did, outscoring the Warriors 15-2 and rolling to their 42
nd LEC regular-season win in their last 43 outings and moving to within a victory of their fifth undefeated LEC season in the last six years with a 17-6 victory at Rick McCarthy Field.
As the No. 3 playoff seed, Eastern (7-7, 5-2 LEC) will host a first-round contest for the second time in the last three years on Tuesday against the eventual No. 6 seed, which will be determined on the final day of the regular season Saturday. The Warriors close out the regular season with an LEC match at VTSU Castleton (6-9, 2-5 LEC), beaten 17-6 Wednesday night at Keene State College.
A victory over Castleton would equal Eastern's regular-season record of six wins (teams are playing an eight-game schedule for only the second year this season after playing seven-game seasons for five years and six-game seasons for the first 17 years of conference competition).
With its seventh straight win overall and 11
th in the last 12 contests, WestConn (12-3, 7-0 LEC) secures the No. 1 playoff seed and will join No. 2 seed University of Southern Maine as earning a first-round bye into the April 30 semifinals.
On Wednesday, Eastern's defense befuddled the Wolves for most all of the first half, limiting Madison Ratchford and Isabella Pota -- ranked 1-2 in the LEC with a combined total of 120 goals and 160 points – to a combined total of two goals and two assists.
In the second half, however, the high-scoring duo combined to score eight of their team's 11 goals, with Ratchford connecting for five and Pota – the MVP of last year's LEC playoffs – adding three goals.
Eastern controlled the tempo and owned most all of the first half, allowing WestConn only two goals and holding to a two-goal lead through the first 25 minutes. The final five minutes of the first half proved to be Eastern's undoing, however, as the Wolves regained the momentum they would not relinquish by striking for four straight goals – getting one from four different players – and taking the lead for good, 6-4, at the break.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Pota recorded her 61
st goal of the year and Ratchford followed less than two minutes later with her 64
th to help WestConn improve its lead to 8-4. The visitors were not threated the rest of the way.
Ratchford led all players with seven goals – taking 13 of her team's 38 shots – with Pota adding four goal and an assist. Ratchford (8) and Pota (5) also combined to win all but two of the team's 15 draws.
By scoring three goals – two on extra-man opportunities -- Eastern senior
Alexa Vizzini (Vernon, NJ) reached 50 goals for the third straight season, with junior
Jenna Mahoney (North Reading, MA) contributing two and first-year player
Molly Page (Waterford) adding one. Vizzini and sophomore
Hannah Seltzer (Westerly, RI) each won three draws.
Making just her second start since late March, sophomore
Maizie Rukat (Peru, VT) turned back a career-high 16 shots, five saves coming when she handcuffed the Wolves on one goal in the first quarter and totalling nine in all in the first half.
As a team, WestConn turned the ball over only nine times, leading to only ten Eastern ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Fifteen of the 20 green and yellow cards issued in the game flagged Eastern and led to six extra-man goals for WestConn. Twice, the Warriors played two players down, with WestConn capitalizing by scoring three times.
Vizzini ranks second all-time in goals (209) and points (269) and sixth in assists (60).
