East Conn Upsets PSU for LEC Women’s Lax Title

PLYMOUTH – On Saturday, May 7 the three-time defending Plymouth State University women’s lacrosse team fell victim to the second seeded Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University with a final tally of 12-8 at Arold Field. Plymouth entered the game at 10-4 on the season, and an undefeated 6-0 in Little East Conference play, while East Conn checked in at 11-6. The Panthers, who were looking for their sixth consecutive win, took a 2-1 advantage after the first ten minutes of play. Despite the momentum seemingly in Plymouth’s favor, East Conn responded back with three consecutive goals to reclaim the lead with a score of 4-2. Then with 13 seconds remaining in the first half, the Panthers added one more on to their tally to tighten the game to 4-3. The second half was quickly taken into the hands of the Warriors as they scored two goals to extend their lead to 6-3. However, PSU’s sophomore Kelsey MacDonald led the Panthers in a huge comeback by scoring three goals to tie the game up at six apiece with about 15 minutes remaining. But despite the great comeback effort by the Panthers, the lead soon slipped away again as the Warriors went on to score four unanswered goals to go up 10-6 with 5:37 remaining on the clock. The Panthers went on to score twice more, but both times the Warriors answered back with a goal of their own, making an end result of 12-8. Leading the PSU offensive attack was MacDonald with four goals and an assist on the game, along with eight ground balls. Junior Nicole Evans pitched in with two goals, while sophomore Liz Boddy and junior Caitlyn Irving added one goal apiece. Sophomores Meg Cupoli and Annie Pinault, and Amanda Spadafora collected one assist each, with Spadafora also picking up six ground balls. PSU senior Kristin Elliot made five saves before being replaced for the last five minutes. The Warriors played with strong defense, holding the Panthers to their third lowest scoring game of the season. ECSU sophomore Kara Bradley was most notable on defense as she was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Also playing strong on defense for ECSU included sophomore Emily Constant, senior Xiomara Lopez, and freshman Meghan Harris. ECSU was also solid in net as sophomore Erin Calkins made seven saves in goal. With the victory, Eastern Connecticut received an automatic spot in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, the first in school history. The Panthers ended their streaks of six consecutive conference championships, and an unbeaten streak in 30 previous LEC contests, including regular season and tourney play. However this does not take anything away from the outstanding season that the lady Panthers had, by registering a 10-5 record on the season. Kelsey MacDonald was the team leader on the season with 53 points (36 goals and 17 assists), while posting a solid .507 shot percentage. Kristen Elliot went 6-2 on the season in net and registered 77 saves with a .550 save percentage, and allowed just 63 goals, to post an 8.04 goals against average.