When you are able to capture a post-season championship, the target on your back becomes HUGE. For the women’s lacrosse team, they were able to avoid that pressure, and prevailed to seven straight Little East Conference wins.
Unfortunately for PSU, the target became too big when they tried to go undefeated between both the post-season and regular season in LEC play.
Longtime PSU rival Keene State College was able to come-from-behind and defeat the Panthers 10-9 last Saturday (May 2) afternoon. The loss in the LEC championship game brings Plymouth’s final record to 13-4.
Prior to the LEC championship game, the Panthers took on the University of Southern Maine on Thursday (April 30) afternoon. USM, who was coming off of a big 19-18 overtime win over Eastern Connecticut State University two days prior, was looking for revenge after falling to Plymouth 14-10 only ten days ago.
Plymouth came out extremely strong to get the game going, as Caity O’Leary (Gloucester, MA) scored only 48 seconds into the game after senior captain Shannon Connerty (Nashua, N.H.) set the freshman up. Connerty found the back of the net herself only 77 seconds later to give the Panthers an early 2-0 lead. Molly Gleason (Haverhill, MA), Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, MA) and Megan Tingley (Natick, MA) all scored goals within the next eight minutes, and PSU appeared destined to pull away in the game. The Huskies were able to score two goals in a 15 second span, but Plymouth went on another 5-0 run behind two goals from Tingley and Caroline Vonachen (Framingham, MA), while Amy MacDonald (Hull, MA) added a goal herself.
USM was able to cut the lead to 11-6 with just under four minutes to go in the first half, but Wilder, Tingley and Vonachen each added a goal in the last 2:04 of the half to give PSU a commanding 14-6 lead at the half.
Once the second half was underway, USM cut the lead to six in less than a minute, but the Panthers added four goals to take an 18-8 lead with 23:20 left in regulation. By this point of the game, it was a foregone conclusion as to who would win this game.
In the other LEC semi-final game, Keene State was able to defeat Western Connecticut State University 24-18. This set up for the second consecutive year that PSU would take on KSC in the LEC championship game. Unlike last season, Keene would travel to the greater Plymouth region for this game.
Keene started off the game taking their time to set themselves up for a great opportunity, as they made the score 1-0 just over seven minutes into the game. The Owls wouldn’t let the Panthers sustain any offense through the first 18 minutes of the game, as they knew that they couldn’t let the fast-paced Plymouth offense get into a rhythm.
Amy MacDonald was able to tie the score up at one apiece, but Keene followed up the goal with one of their own, going up 2-1 with 9:46 left in the first half. Fortunately for the Panthers, Megan Tingley was able to gain the draw control, and took the ball down field to re-tie the game.
A few minutes later, Casey Curran (Framingham, MA) was able to make one of seven first-half saves, and MacDonald was able to give the Panthers their first lead of the game with 5:14 left in the first half. Curran stopped another shot with 12 seconds left in the half to keep it 3-2 at halftime.
Once the second half got underway, the back-and-forth game continued, as Keene tied the game up at three only 1:17 into the second half. Keene was able to take a 4-3 lead about 2:30 later, and attempted to take time off of the clock over the next few minutes.
Rachel Fistori (Medford, MA) was able to force a turnover in the PSU offensive zone, and Tingley was able to find MacDonald to tie the game at four with just under 20 minutes left in regulation. The goal appeared to be one that would allow Plymouth to get into a solid flow for the last third of the game.
Molly Gleason was able to capture the ensuing draw control, and MacDonald found Vonachen for her 41st goal of the season. The momentum kept going in Plymouth’s favor, as Fistori added a goal of her own to make it a 6-4 PSU lead.
Shannon Connerty was able to force an Owl turnover on the ensuing set of plays, and then found Wilder to give Plymouth a 7-4 lead.
Keene was able to get the ensuing draw control, and found the back of the net. The resilient team that Keene was, they turned around and cut the PSU lead to 7-6. Sensing that the momentum might be moving into Keene’s favor, PSU Head Coach Kristin Tracy called a timeout to regroup her team.
The timeout was to the Panthers’ advantage as Shannon Connerty was able to collect the draw control, and scored on a free-position attempt. Keene would score less than two minutes later to make it 8-7, and the last ten minutes of the game would turn into a showdown to see who would end up in the NCAA tournament.
Casey Curran was able to direct two shots away, and Tingley was able to find Vonachen for her second goal of the game to make it a 9-7 game.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, this would be the last goal that they would score in the 2015 season.
Keene was able to cut the lead to 9-8 with 4:18 left in regulation, and tied the game with 2:42 left. The ensuing draw control went to the Owls, and they looked to hold onto the ball for as long as possible, as they looked to get the last shot in the game.
With 37 seconds left in regulation, Keene was able to take a 10-9 lead, and all appeared lost for the Panthers when the Owls were able to control the next draw. Fortunately for Plymouth, a turnover by Keene with just under 30 seconds left in the game meant they had one more shot.
Emily Tilton (Cranston, R.I.) was able to pass the ball to the offensive side of the field for PSU, and Kaitlyn Wilder was able to fire a shot on goal with 16 seconds left in regulation. The goalie for KSC was able to make a save, but Wilder would have another attempt to be the hero, as she was fouled on the shot.
Keene ended up mauling Wilder on the free position attempt, and was able to force Wilder into a turnover that ultimately sealed the deal for PSU.
“They really controlled the momentum of the game just by having possession most of the time,” Head Coach Kristin Tracy stated upon how Keene was able to capture to 10-9 victory. Keene appeared to have the ball in their offensive zone for about 65% of the game, while Plymouth was only able to have the ball in their offensive third for 20% of the game (the remaining 15% was within the midfield).
It was an extremely tough loss, as not only did this game end the season for the women’s lacrosse team, but also saw the career of five amazing players for the Panthers come to an end as well. Rachel Fistori, Amy MacDonald, Molly Gleason, Shannon Connerty and Casey Curran have seen their careers in the green and white come to a close. Aside from posting tremendous numbers over the past few years, all five grew into FANTASTIC leaders both on and off of the field.
“To see how much they’ve (the seniors) grown over the last four years and be at the top of their careers and experience all of that with them was a very special moment for me,” Tracy added.
Replacing these five will be nearly impossible to do. Looking to step into their roles next season include Vonachen, Tilton and Megan Lunetta (Plymouth, MA). All three have grown, and learned from what the five senior have taught them over the past few years.
Next year’s class looks to have a lot of promise, according to Tracy. “They are a big & talented class, 15 of them. We have two fantastic goalies who I’m very excited about, Emilee Wargo and Maddie Romandi both out of CT. I'm really looking forward to Sarah Thompson from Hooksett, N.H. and Kimmie Ziccaro from Mass to replace Molly & Rachel in the midfield,” Tracy added.
With a team that will play next season with a chip on their shoulder upon a heartbreaking loss, watch for the Panthers to come out and win, not only for themselves, but for the graduating senior class as well.