Plymouth Field Hockey First Place in LEC

Plymouth State field hockey has had an amazing season, and as it winds down they currently find themselves at first place in the Little East Conference. With a 10-3 overall record they are 8-1 in Conference. Since last issue they have played six games and have won five, three of these games went to extra time with two even going to double OT. The offense is currently led by junior Nicole Burgess (Mexico, Maine) who has 10 goals on the year, giving her a career total of 13. They’ve also had exceptional goaltending from sophomore Alivia Bates (Pennsauken, NJ) her 80 saves and .816 save percentage have been crucial to the Panthers success.

October 1st saw the Huskies of Southern Maine come into New Hampton in a close evening contest. The score remained deadlocked through both halves and would have to be settled by overtime. After a 15 minute round in which both sides had great chances a score was still not reached and therefore had to go to a second overtime. Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, MA) decided she’d had enough fun in the contest and netted the lone goal to give the Panthers the victory. The women next traveled to Western Connecticut for a date with the Colonials. The contest was tight throughout, Wilder would put in the first goal and be answered right back by the Colonials. Katie Martin (Waterbury Ctr. VT) scored a goal to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. The Colonials scored in the 45th minute to tie the game before Kendal Lariviere (Dover, NH) netted her second on the season to give the Panthers the 3-2 lead they would hold on to until the finish, doing their part to help the Panthers homecoming sweep.

Salem State would be next on the schedule as the Vikings traveled into New Hampton. Wilder would take control of the first half scoring two goals in the first, giving the Panthers a 2-0 cushion at halftime. Lily Davis (Boscawen, NH) would score to open the second half and the Panthers looked to sail to an easy victory. Salem had other ideas though as they would score two goals to make the final 3-2 and the Panthers just a little nervous.

The Panthers were undefeated in conference before making the trek to Worcester State. Worcester would score 3 minutes in and then shut down the Panthers for the remainder of the contest and Plymouth would lose their only conference game to date. Looking to rebound they traveled to UMass Dartmouth. UMass would score first in the first half and take the 1-0 lead into the half. The second half was wild as Nicole Burgess would net the tying goal in a two on one open net situation. Two minutes later the Corsairs notched a go ahead goal off of a penalty corner. Burgess would come up big again knocking a rebound into the open net to tie the game again. After one overtime the contest could not be decided and it took Lily Davis scoring in the 95th minute to win. This would set up a very important home game against the rival Owls of Keene State. Coming into the game the Owls led the conference 8-0, Plymouth in second at 7-1. The matchup would be crucial for both team’s chances for home field advantage in the LEC tournament. In a game in which both teams goaltending was exceptional including some intense, game winning saves from Bates, neither team could score in regulation. It was in OT off of a penalty corner that Katie Martin notched the game winning goal, and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

With the victory the ladies are first place in the LEC Conference with three games remaining before the tournament, they’ll next travel to Westfield State on the 24th before playing a non-conference game at Saint Josephs on the 28th and then celebrating senior day in a home game against Eastern Connecticut.