PSU Women's Soccer edged by UMass Dartmouth

The Plymouth State women's soccer team was edged in a close match by UMass Dartmouth by a score of 3-2 on Friday, October 16 at Panther Field.

With the loss, PSU falls to 5-6-2 overall on the season with a 1-4 Little East Conference record whereas UMass Dartmouth improved to 5-8-1 overall with a 2-3 LEC record. The loss pushed PSU's winless streak to five games, which is a stretch that has seen PSU go 0-4-1. The victory for UMD snapped their six game winless streak, which was a streak that saw UMD go 0-5-1.

PSU had the early 2-1 lead as sophomore Sarah Pandiscio and junior Rebecca Wilson scored consecutive goals in the first half to turn a 0-1 deficit into a one goal lead heading into halftime. UMD would begin their second half rally when first year student Jamie Ledin notched the game at two goals apiece when she scored off of a pass from sophomore Katie Doherty. UMD would later break the tie and score the eventual game winning goal when Doherty put one past PSU goalie sophomore Stephanie Regina for her second goal of the season.

PSU now heads into the stretch run of the season with four games remaining. They will battle for a spot in the Little East Tournament but has some work to do if they are going to make it into the tournament. When asked after the game if there is anything coaches can do to try to snap the team out of the current slump they are in, PSU head coach Gene Smith stated "Motivation, desire, and heart purely belongs to the players on the field. As coaches we can prepare them in many ways but if you are not motivated to step on the field and play games there is little I can say to change that fact," said Smith, "There is a lot of tradition in this program and this is probably the most talented team I have had in my time at Plymouth. However, this is also the least mentally tough team I have coached."

PSU is now in a tie for sixth place in the LEC and is one loss behind UMD in the standings and is two losses behind Western Connecticut State University. Coach Smith believes that his team needs to have a sense of urgency in the stretch run of the season, "We have to have some urgency in the last four games. Any conference win can be the difference of making a post season appearance," said Smith "But again we don't want to make anyone panic which would put undue stress on the team. I still believe if we play the way we did at the beginning of the season then we can get it done in the stretch."

PSU will begin their final four games of the regular season when they travel to Bridgewater, MA to take on Bridgewater State College on Tuesday, October 20 at 3:30pm. After traveling to Bridgewater, PSU will return home to play back-to-back games at Panther Field. On Saturday, October 24, they will play Castleton at 1:00pm and on Tuesday, October 27, they will play Fitchburg State at 4:30pm. UMD will move on to play Emerson at 3:30pm on Tuesday, October 20.