Swanson and MacDonald Keep Women's Lacrosse on a Roll

The Plymouth State Women's Lacrosse team has been on a roll over the past two weeks, and they have no intentions of slowing down.

After defeating the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday, April 24^th, not only did this clinch the top spot for the Little East Conference tournament, but this also extended the Panthers' winning streak to six. The win puts PSU at an overall record of 10-2, while remaining undefeated in conference play with a 5-0 record (the last regular season game is against LEC opponent Rhode Island College on Saturday, April 24^th).

To get the winning streak truly going, Plymouth defeated conference rivals in Eastern Connecticut (on April 13^th), Keene State (on April 16^th), and Western Connecticut (on April 20^th). Not only did winning these games mean that the Panthers wouldn't have to travel to these schools come playoff time, but it also gave them crucial momentum in anticipation of the playoffs.

Against Eastern Connecticut, sophomore Amy MacDonald (Hull, Mass.) had one of the best games of her collegiate career (in terms of points), as she had four goals and three assists in the 11-7 win. The seven points that MacDonald recorded in this game tied her career high, as she scored seven times against Castleton State last season. Joining MacDonald in the scoring included fellow sophomores Rachel Fistori (Medford, Mass.), Meghan McNabb (Lexington, Mass.) and Shannon Connerty (Nashua, NH), while senior Caitlin Swanson (Holderness, NH) and first-year Meghan Grabowski (West Hartford, CT) got on the scoreboard as well.

Not to be outdone, the defense held Eastern Connecticut to 13 shots on goal, and was able to convert 14 successful clears on 15 attempts. This gave PSU the ability to control the ball, and being able to sustain possession is a huge key to success in women's lacrosse. Lorin Field (Hollis, NH) had six saves, while Kristen Guest (Sandwich, Mass.) had four ground balls and Amanda Richardson (Bradford, NH) lead the team with four draw controls.

The next game, against Keene State, was one for the ages.

Against the in-state rival Owls, both teams were evenly matched throughout the contest, as neither team was able to sustain anything more than a two-goal lead. The Panthers found themselves down by two goals with about 20:00 left in the game, but Swanson went on to have two memorable goals to tie the score at 9 apiece with 12:21 remaining. Upon holding on to possession for the next ten minutes, Fistori scored what ended up being the game winning goal on a beautiful feed from McNabb with only 2:30 left in the game. Sophomore Casey Curran (Framingham, Mass.) had a huge save with only a few seconds left to secure the win for PSU.

It could have been easy for this team to have an off game after such a huge win against Keene, but Plymouth went out and had their best game in recent memory against Western Connecticut last Saturday.

The Panthers got off to a decent start, as they were up 5-3 at halftime after two goals from both MacDonald and Swanson, while McNabb added the 5^th. Head Coach Kristin Blanchette and assistant coaches Nicole Adams and Conor Davis must have given PSU a hell of a halftime speech, as they scored 9 of the next 11 goals to put the score at 14-5 with just over five minutes left in the game. Needless to say, the game was long over at this point.

Swanson tied a season high with five goals in the game, while MacDonald had four. McNabb added another goal in the game to have two scores in the LEC contest, while Fistori, Molly Gleason (Haverhill, Mass.) and Emily Tilton (Cranston, RI) had one goal apiece. Gleason also had nine draw controls in the game, while Field had 12 saves, which was the most saves she has had in a game since April 4^th (when she recorded 13).

In the team's most recent game against the University of Southern Maine, the offense came out on fire, as there were six different goal-scorers for the Panthers to put them up 8-1 at halftime. Not to be outdone, the defense for PSU held USM to only six shots on goal in the half. A reason for the superb play could be because it was senior day, as Guest, Swanson, Marie Lander (Ossipee, NH), Richardson, and Ally Baribault (Middle Haddam, Conn.) were recognized for their outstanding careers before the game.

The second half featured much of the same, as Lorin Field was able to have nine saves on 13 shots for the game.  Plymouth opened up the score to 15-4 after senior Lander ripped a shot into the back of the net with just under two minutes left in the game to ice the cake.

This team is poised to have a serious run in not only the Little East Conference tournament (which starts on Friday, May 3^rd for the Panthers), but also a legitimate shot to make some noise in the NCAA tournament. Look for this team to bring home some hardware over the coming weeks!

Tidbits and Recognition:

-Caitlin Swanson has had an unbelievable career at Plymouth, and she has been moving up the all-time scoring list for the Panthers. Going into the season, the senior captain was in 17^th, but has been able to climb up to 11^th after accumulating 36 points through 11 games this season. Swanson has 152 points through April 24th.

-Not to be outdone, sophomore Meghan McNabb is poised to surpass Swanson next season, as she has moved from 26^th to 16^th as the season has progressed on in all-time points. McNabb has 137 career points through April 24^th.

-Molly Gleason has been moving up the draw control chart, as she has moved from 6^th to 4^th in all-time draw controls for PSU. The sophomore has 187 draw controls in her career as of April 24^th.

-This season, Lorin Field has been name Little East Conference goalie of the week three times, while Caitlin Swanson has been named LEC defensive player of the week twice, Amanda Richardson has received the same award once, and Amy MacDonald has been named LEC offensive player of the week once. Keep it up Panthers!!!