PSU Women's Lacrosse on fire

Get out of the way, because the train that is Plymouth States' women's lacrosse team is coming to town and is on fire. After playing (and defeating) UMass Dartmouth and Thomas College last week, Plymouth State is 6-2 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Panthers have shown that they can win the close games (Freshman Carol Messler (Durham, N.H.) shot the game winning goal with 14:50 left against Dartmouth) and just have a phenomenal overall game, as they did vs. Thomas College (a 21-3 victory in which freshman goalie Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.) had a great game (more on her later) and Mekenna Bay (Maracaibo, Venezuela) scored eight goals).

Lorin Field has been on an absolute role this season, as she now leads all goalies in Division III in save percentage at over 60%. This is truly an unreal feat and I think Head Coach Kristin Blanchette put it best; "It's basically unheard of for a freshman to do this- let alone for PSU lacrosse."  This is truly something that is historic for Plymouth State women's lacrosse, and it will be quite a feat to see Field improve even more as the year goes on. Field has also had great defenders around her this year as junior defender Paige Tollner (Nashua, N.H.) has also contributed to Field's feat thus far. 

While Lorin Field has been just outstanding in goal for the Panthers, the offense hasn't been a slouch, averaging 15.3 goals per game during this four game winning streak, and 12.6 goals overall this year. There have been a lot of contributors this year, as five players have over 10 goals this year (Bay (12 goals), Kathryn Rogers (Wolfeboro, N.H.)(13 goals), Jenn Foley (Tewksbury, Mass.)(15 goals), Emily Buckle (Danbury, Conn.)(17 goals) and Cait Swanson (Holderness, N.H.)(27 goals)).  There are role players as well who do the small things that go unnoticed that include sophomores Amanda Richardson (Bradford, N.H.) and Kristen Guest (Sandwich, Mass.) who have a combined 22 ground balls.

The Panthers finally had a home game yesterday against Bridgewater State, followed by a game at 3:00 tomorrow against Eastern Connecticut State University. When I asked Coach Blanchette how she and her players felt about finally playing home games, Blanchette said "We face really tough competition this week so we need to be really fired up" but also stated that "We are extremely excited to be home on our field."  

The question that oppositions have to be asking is how do you stop this team? The answer is, you really can't. When the offense has an off day, and they really never do, Lorin Field is there to back them up, and the offense does the same for Field. This team seems poised for something big this year, and Coach Blanchette and the players would appreciate it if you came down to support them tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. against conference rival Eastern Connecticut.