Women's Lacrosse Continues Strong Start

Despite playing in cold and windy conditions, the Plymouth State Women's Lacrosse team defeated Fitchburg State University on Tues., March 27, 2012 16-5. This win put the Panthers' overall record to 4-1, with four consecutive wins heading into their game against Castleton State College on Thursday, March 29th.

The Panthers came out on fire against the Falcons of Fitchburg, as Amy MacDonald (Hull, Mass.), Shannon Connerty (Nashua, N.H.), Caitlin Swanson (Holderness, N.H.) and Meghan McNabb (Lexington, Mass.) all scored a goal within the first 4:34 of the game. Despite Fitchburg getting four out of the next six goals, the Panthers had a commanding 9-4 lead, and were poised to continue the beat-down (One of the goals that Caitlin Swanson to make the score 6-3 came off of a double juke fake from Meghan McNabb that was awesome to watch).

In the second half, the Panthers' dominance continued. Upon opening up a 14-4 lead, the Panthers continued to play stellar defense that would have shut down any offense. The one-on-one defense that players like Kristen Guess (Sandwich, Mass.), Nora Regan (West Hartford, Conn.), Carly Floyd (Madison, Conn.) and Allison Gonyea (Auburn, N.H.). This exceptional defense limited Fitchburg to only eleven shots on goal, in which goalie Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.) stopped six shots.

Leading the offensive attack in this game was Swanson (with five goals), McNabb (with four goals and three assists), while Connerty, MacDonald and McKenna Bay (Maracaibo, Venezuela) added two goals apiece, and Molly Gleason (Haverhill, Mass.) chipped in a goal as well.

To kick off this four game winning streak, the Panthers defeated Worcester State 24-3 (on March 14, 2012), Dallas 17-9 (on March 22ng) and Pacific 22-9 (on March 24th). The two games against Dallas and Pacific occurred over Spring break, when the Panthers traveled down to Texas. A couple of the players that performed extremely well while in Dallas include Molly Gleason (who was named LEC women's defensive player of the week as she controlled 15 draws as well as recording 14 ground balls between the two games), while Caitlin Swanson and Shannon Connerty had 15 goals total between both games.

The Panthers are a team that is going to be extremely hard to beat for a number of reasons. For one, Lorin Field has been playing like one of the best goalies in the country (as Head Coach Kristin Blanchette has stated before "Field-Z has all three [game instincts, mental toughness and fundamental soundness] and it makes our team that much better"). The defense that the Panthers' play in front of Field helps limit the amount of shots that have been directed to her, as it is extremely tough to break through. When the Panthers have their offense rolling as well (currently averaging almost 19 goals a game), Plymouth is nearly impossible to beat.

Just like the Men's ice hockey team over the Winter, this team has a chance to go far in the playoffs. Of course, the main goal for the Panthers right now is to win their next game, but with the way that this train has been rolling, it will not be too long before the playoffs start. Despite not having their first home game until April 17th, the Panthers will continue to not only defeat teams, but also inch ever so closer to some of their goals, the first being to win the Little East Conference.