Dominating Performance Leads Panthers to LEC Championship Game

The Plymouth State Panthers came into their game against the Colonials of Western Connecticut State University looking for revenge after a 15-14 overtime loss a few weeks ago. Upon winning 19-7, the Panthers played one of their most complete games of the season.

Before the game even started, the Colonials came out of the locker room yelling how they were going to defeat the Panthers, but PSU kept their mouths quiet, knowing that they were going to explode once the game started. Explode is exactly what Plymouth did to start the game, as Molly Gleason (Haverhill, MA) scored only 70 seconds into the contest.

West Conn was able to tie the game up about a minute later, but, unfortunately for the Colonials, this was the closest they would be to the Panthers for the rest of the game. Amy MacDonald (Hull, MA) made the score 2-1 for PSU after Shannon Connerty (Nashua, N.H.) set MacDonald up 6:01 into the game. Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, MA) scored the next goal in the game to put the Panthers up 3-1, and it appeared that they were ready to pull away.

The Colonials were able to get the game back to within a goal at 4-3, but Gleason scored two goals within a 22 second span to allow the lead to grow. The 6-3 lead appeared to be the beginning of the end for West Conn, but they scored two of the next three to get the game back to within two goals. Senior Captain Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.) stepped up big in net over the next few minutes to stop any thoughts of the Colonials making a comeback. MacDonald and Gleason scored to end the half, which saw Plymouth hold a commanding 9-5 lead.

Plymouth came out with guns blazing in the second half, as Rachel Fistori (Medford, MA) found the back of the net to double West Conn up. Freshman Caroline Vonachen (Framingham, MA) scored to make it 11-5 only 2:42 later, and Emily Tilton (Cranston, R.I.) scored her first goal of the game only a minute later.

By this point, it became obvious that the Panthers were destined to win the game.

To put icing on the cake, Plymouth scored the next seven goals to grab a commanding 19-5 lead, and despite two goals by WCSU to get the game to 19-7, the final horn was blown, and Plymouth finally threw the monkey off of their back to advance to the Little East Conference championship game for the first time in Head Coach Kristin Tracy's career.

"Probably the best game we've played all season," Tracy explained after the 11th win of the season for the Panthers. "The focus and intensity was excellent and consistent through the entire game," Tracy added.

Over the past few years, the Panthers have been the #1 seed heading into the Little East Conference tournament. While this is a great accomplishment, the Panthers don't have to play a first round game since six teams make the tournament. Being the three-seed this season, the Panthers were forced to play a game (against Rhode Island College), in which they didn't have a chance to have a speed-bump in their season. By playing this game against RiC, all it did was give PSU some more momentum for the playoffs.

Lorin Field, who stopped 15 of the 20 shots she faced, stated that "Everyone on the team contributed to today's win; the attack played the best that I have ever seen. We played a full 60 minutes today with everyone focused on the game!" With the win, the historic season for Field continues, as aside from owning the most amount of saves in PSU women's lacrosse history, she now also holds the most amount of wins by a goalie in PSU women's lacrosse history. The 40 wins in Field's career puts her one ahead of Carmen Villanueva, with at least another game to play. 

Looking ahead to the championship game for Plymouth, they face in-state, in-conference rival in Keene State. Ask any player who is within the same conference as a team from Keene, and they will tell you how big those games are. PSU will look to continue the revenge tour, 2014 style, as Keene defeated Plymouth 9-6 earlier this season. Getting to the championship is a great accomplishment for the Panthers this season, but they will not be content with coming in second place. Defeating Keene is always the #1 goal for this team, and a showdown to decide the LEC championship will truly decide who is the best team this season. Watch for the Panthers to come out with quiet confidence, as they did against WCSU, and let their play do the talking on Sunday (5/4) afternoon.