MacDonald Leads Panthers to First win of Season

The Plymouth State Women's lacrosse team has had a tough time in their first game of the season over the past seven years, as they have only been able to capture one win in their season opener since 2007.

That was coming into the 2015 season.

A completely new Panther team came out in 2015, and allowed PSU to capture their first win of the season over Gordon College on Tuesday (3/3) night. The 18-9 wins propels Plymouth to a 1-0 start to their 2015 campaign.

Prior to the game starting, the Panthers were fired up to get their season going, as there were a number of playing supporting their teammates as they made a great shot, or a great defensive stop in pre-game. The pre-game energy wasn’t there right away, as Gordon went up 1-0 early in the contest.

PSU rebounded quick, as senior captain Molly Gleason (Haverhill, MA) scored the first goal for the Panthers in the 2015 season about 7:30 into the game. The Panthers were able to grab a lead early in the game, as Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, MA) found the back of the net after a great pass from Amy MacDonald (Hull, MA).

Gordon was able to tie the game back up at two less than a minute and a half later, but PSU was able to score nine of the next 11 goals to go up 11-4. Of the nine goals, MacDonald had four, while fellow senior captain Shannon Connerty (Nashua, NH) chipped in two goals herself.

As the second half got underway, the lead resulted in the Panthers appearing a little too comfortable, as Gordon scored three of the first four goals in the first ten minutes of the half. PSU would make sure that Gordon wasn’t able to get too close to them, as MacDonald scored twice within 40 seconds to allow the Panthers to go up 14-7.

Two goals by Gordon made it a five goal game, but Gleason, MacDonald, Caroline Vonachen (Framingham, MA) and Rachel Fistori (Medford, MA) concluded the scoring with a goal apiece. For the game, Casey Curran (Framingham, MA) had four saves, while Meg Brault (South Windsor, CT) stopped all six shots she faced.

A number of players had great games, including MacDonald, who ended up having eight goals and two assists, to move her up to 5^th on the all-time scoring list in PSU Women’s Lacrosse history. One player who had a historic game was Molly Gleason. While Gleason’s numbers weren’t her career bests (two goals, seven draw controls), her sixth draw control of the game propelled her to #1 for all-time draw controls in PSU Women’s Lacrosse history (passing Kelsey MacDonald).

While both players were able to achieve a lot of success, they know there is room for improvement. “There were obviously bright spots,” Macdonald stated, but “definitely things we can work on as we move forward.”  

PSU knows not to get ahead of themselves in their first game of the season, as they have a number of tough opponents ahead of them in 2015. Watch for them to come out strong against Springfield College, who they face on Saturday (3/7) afternoon, and have struggled to defeat in the past.