The Plymouth State Women’s Field Hockey team won their first game of the season Sat. Sept. 13, in a little East Conference Match-up at Arold Field by blanking Salem State 5-0.
PSU handed Salem State its first loss of the season. PSU, who was playing its home opener, gave their fans something to cheer for with a balanced offensive attack that saw five different PSU players score. Sammi Ramano, Ashley Gutowski, Kaleigh Chase, Courtney McLaughlin and Sarah Smith all contributed to the shut out with a goal apiece. PSU first-year goalie Elyse Sedgley was stellar in making two saves and recorded her first career shutout.
PSU looked to rebound in their home opener after losing its first two games of the season on the road to Endicott and Castleton, and they did so by jumping on Salem State early and often. Sammi Ramano scored a goal midway through the first half while Kaleigh Chase and Sarah Smith each added a goal to the Plymouth lead before heading off the field for halftime.
PSU continued padding their lead in the second half with goals from Ashley Gutowski and Courtney McLaughlin. “I thought we did everything well. This is a very hard working and motivated group of talented players. Their objective is to play a strong support game and this is what made the difference on Saturday,” said PSU coach Bonnie Lord, “We have been working diligently at maintaining possession of the ball and playing our game.” Despite the win, Lord still believes there is room for improvement in her team, “We will continue to work on consistency in both skill and performance. To be able to control the game, we need to stay mentally focused on each position’s role on the field. This will all come together as we play more games,” Lord said.
PSU opens up a three game road trip with their next game against Lasell on Wed. Sept. 17. After their upcoming three game road trip, PSU will have played five of its first six games on the road. Although they have far more away games than home games this year, coach Lord does not show much concern, “Our 2008 schedule is a road trip! We have adopted the philosophy that we ‘just want to play field hockey’ – where is not an issue.” When asked if playing the vast majority of her games on the road will change the way she coaches Lord responded, “The majority of our away games are on a turf field and we will step up the speed of our execution to be prepared for the faster game.”
Salem State will face a non-conference game Sat. Sept. 20 at Westfield State. PSU will try and stop undefeated UMass Dartmouth as of date of print, on Sat. Sept. 20 in a Little East Conference match-up.