The Plymouth State Women’s Lacrosse team capped off their 2013 regular season with a 17-2 win over Rhode Island College on Saturday, April 27th. With the win, the team’s overall record for the regular season concluded at 12-2, while clinching their second back-to-back undefeated season in conference play (with a 6-0 record) in as many years.
There wasn’t much doubt in this game, as PSU opened the game with seven unanswered goals before RiC was finally able to get on the board. Senior Caitlin Swanson (Holderness, NH) had the first goal for PSU, while sophomore Amy MacDonald (Hull, Mass.) scored only 1:05 later after a nice pass from Meghan McNabb (Lexington,Mass.). McNabb, Shannon Connerty (Nashua, NH), Molly Gleason (Haverhill, Mass.), and Meghan Grabowski (West Hartford, Conn.) all had goals in the first half to give the Panthers a 7-1 lead at halftime.
In the second half, much of the same continued for Plymouth State.
McNabb, Grabowski, MacDonald and Marie Lander (Ossipee,NH) all had two goals after the intermission, while Swanson and Carol Messler (Durham, NH) each chipped in a goal in the period. The balanced attack not only allowed PSU to develop an even bigger lead, but it confused the opposition as to who to focus on.
Defensively, PSU was tremendous, as senior Kristen Guest (Sandwich, Mass.) had five ground balls and five caused turnovers (the latter being the most she has had this season), while Amanda Richardson (Bradford,NH), Carly Floyd (Madison, Conn.) and Gleason all had three ground balls in the game.
Lorin Field (Hollis,NH) continued her tremendous effort in net, as she had 14 saves on 16 shots. This was the most amount of saves for Field in a game since playing Springfield College on March 7th of 2012.
While the regular season has concluded for the Panthers, the Little East Conference tournament looms large for the Panthers. PSU, who clinched the #1 seed after defeating Southern Maine on Wednesday, April 24th, will face the winner of the Eastern Connecticut/Western Connecticut contest that will take place on Tuesday, April 30th. The winner of this game will play Plymouth on Friday, May 3rd. Luckily for the Panthers, they are able to not have to travel for the LEC tournament by having the top-seed.
Tidbits and Recognition
-This is the first time that the Panthers have gone back-to-back year undefeated in conference play since the 2005-2006 seasons.
-Caitlin Swanson is only six points away from jumping into the top 10 for career points in PSU women’s lacrosse history.
-After accumulating 61 points this season, Meghan McNabb has moved into 12th place on the all-time leader board for points in PSU women’s lacrosse history.
-With 82 draw controls on the season, Molly Gleason has moved into 3rd place on the all-time draw controls in women’s lacrosse history at PSU. Gleason needs only 17 more draw controls to move into the top 2.
-For the second consecutive season, the team has eight players that have at least 10 points on the season.