Plymouth State Field Hockey in Four Way Tie

Weston Atwood

For The Clock

watwood@plymouth.edu

The Plymouth State Panthers Field Hockey team currently find themselves in a four-way tie for the fourth seed in the LEC standings. Plymouth State, Fitchburg State, Bridgewater St, and Southern Maine all find themselves at 6-4 in conference play as the playoffs are fast approaching. The team which was ranked runner up in preseason has hit a rough patch in their recent games. They’ve gone 2-2 since last issue with two conference loses to Westfield State and Keene State.

They hosted UMass Dartmouth at the New Hampton School in a conference battle. It was a primetime matchup that saw the Corsairs score first making it the first time the Panthers trailed a home game this season. Senior Nicole Burgess (Mexico, ME) notched a goal to tie it at halftime. She would pick up another to start the second, with Keeley Bartolini (Topsham, ME) adding another to give the Panthers the 3-1 victory.

This lead to the LEC select matchup of the unbeaten Owls at Keene, Plymouth opened the scoring on the road with a quick goal by Katie Martin (Waterbury Ctr. VT) The Panthers almost took a 1-0 lead into halftime, however a late goal by the Owls tied it up. Keene then cruised in the second half scoring three unanswered goals to win 4-1. The Panthers next hosted another Owls team, this one from Westfield State. It was a battle for sole possession of third place in the LEC standings as well as Senior Day for six Panther seniors. After the pre-game acknowledgement of Maddy Beatrice (Newton, MA), Kendal Lariviere (Dover, NH), Jordan Ray Burgess (Standish, ME), Rosalie Edmonds (Goffstown, NH) and Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, MA.) The game was a defensive struggle throughout with no one scoring in the first half. It was thirteen minutes into the second half when Westfield snuck one in giving them the 1-0 lead and eventual final.

The Panthers would look to bounce back in a non-conference matchup against Thomas College. Thomas would score first and it looked like the Panthers might be in for another long day. But the Panthers fought back picking up five unanswered goals two from Lily Davis (Boscawen, NH) and one a piece from Burgess, Martin, and Kaihley Rafferty (Salem, CT.) The Panthers would hold this advantage and pick up the must needed win.

The Panthers have one last upcoming away Conference game versus Eastern Connecticut this Saturday the 22nd and look to host St. Josephs before the LEC playoffs begin.