The Plymouth State Field Hockey team fell to in-state rival Keene State College in the Little East Conference championship game by a score of 4-0 on Sat., Nov. 8 at the Owl Athletic Complex in Keene.
With the win, KSC earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships where they will travel to Springfield, Mass., to play Springfield College. KSC improved to an 18-5 overall record on the season with their victory over PSU while the Panthers dropped to 13-7.
Although, PSU came up a little short in winning the LEC, their success this season will not go unnoticed. PSU was invited to the ECAC tournament and is ranked as the No. 2 seed. PSU will take on No. 7 seeded Framingham State in the first round on Wed., Nov. 12 at Arold Field.
Keene State first year student Elizabeth Coffin got it going for the Owls by scoring the games first goal when she put one by PSU goalie Elyse Sedgley. Keene State delivered a crushing blow to PSU by padding their lead when senior Alyssa Rowell scored on an assist by Carly Benning and Erin Dallas. PSU could not recover in the second half while Erin Dallas scored two goals in a span of five minutes to put the game out of reach.
KSC out-shot PSU 14-4 and also had the advantage in corner opportunities 13-3. When asked what she thought hurt her team the most, PSU head coach Bonnie Lord stated “If you look at the score, you also have to look at the stats, the game was evenly played, it was the penalty corners that beat us. On rug turf the penalty corner is a huge weapon and Keene is very good at executing their set plays.”
Although this may be a tough loss to take for PSU, their future looks promising. Of the 21 players on this year’s team, only one players is a senior, Ashley Gutowski. Coach Lord believes this game and the ECAS tournament will be valuable experience for her team heading into next season, “The ECAS’ will be great experience for us. To make the NCAA’s and not compete would not be enough for us,” said Lord “we need another year of growth to make that NCAA appearance valid.”
The loss ended an eight game winning streak for PSU in what was a very successful season. Every team goes through ups and downs throughout a season, unfortunately PSU came up just short of winning the LEC Championship.