Field Hockey Dominates Way to ECAC Final

Plymouth, NH- The top seeded Panther field hockey team advanced to the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) finals with two big wins this past week. The Panthers ran through Worcester State 4-1 in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals shut out Babson College Beavers 3-0. In the quarterfinal game, the Panthers were led by Junior Lilly Silva, who scored two goals and Freshman Katie Randell, who played great between the pipes for the Panthers. Sophomore Melanie Bates scored a goal only three and half minutes into the game. Silva scored the next two goals; the first assisted by sophomore Christina Farias. Senior Amanda Gutowski scored the last goal for the Panthers with only a minute left in the first half to bring the score to 4-0. Andrea McAllister scored the lone goal for Worcester State with 6:43 remaining in the second half. The Panthers overwhelmed the Babson College Beavers in the semifinal game, out shooting the Beavers twenty-four to two. Junior Katie Kovacs opened up the scoring half way through the first half for the Panthers, redirecting a pass from sophomore Melanie Bates. Senior Amanda Gutowski scored with 5:24 left in the first half, bringing the score to 2-0 going into halftime. Gutowski stuck again five minutes into the second half, for her second goal of the day, making the score 3-0. With the two wins the Panthers have won eleven out of their last twelve games, and have tied a school record with seventeen wins for the season. They are in the ECAC final for the first time since 1987, which was the last time they won it. This is the tenth trip to finals. In the title game the Panthers will face off with second-seeded Wellesley College this Thursday Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m. at Arold Field. Freshman Carrie Potts illustrated that “If we play the way in the finals that we played against Babson, we will win.”