Women's soccer wins an impressive match-up

The Plymouth State women's soccer team posted an impressive victory over Rhode Island College by a score of 4-1 on Oct. 18 at Panther Field.  It was the Panther's second straight victory and the win moved their record to 5-5-3 on the season with a Little East Conference record of 1-3-1.  Rhode Island College fell to 1-13-1 with a 0-4-1 LEC record.  

PSU junior Lauren Lavery had an impressive outing by scoring a hat trick, all in the first half.  Lavery also chipped in with an assist on the Panther's fourth goal in which was scored by Stacy DiSabato.  Lavery scored the Panthers first goal 12 minutes into the first half on an assist by PSU first year student Gill Carroll.  Lavery would score her second goal nine minutes later and would cap off her hat trick with an unassisted goal five minutes after that.  RIC sophomore Chelsea Creamer scored the only goal for her team on a goal that assisted by senior Kayla Fleming.

PSU head coach Gene Smith was extremely pleased with the way his team performed against the same RIC team that knocked them out of the LEC tournament late last season, "We played an excellent game.  We had most of the possession throughout the game.  We moved some players around which proved to be a very effective move for us, and we approached the game with great focus," said Smith, "We talked about what needed to be done all week and the players simply executed what we talked about." PSU kept the pressure on RIC all day by taking the majority of the shots, out shooting RIC by a margin of 22-7.

Although Smith was pleased with his teams victory, he realizes its just one game and that his team has to continue to execute to keep winning, "It's great to get a win like this but it is only the beginning of what we need to accomplish in the last few weeks of the season.  We need to build on this success and keep the momentum," said Smith.

PSU will look to win their third straight game in their final regular season home game against Bridgewater State on Oct. 21.  After that, PSU will travel to UMass Dartmouth in an attempt to improve their LEC record.  UMass Dartmouth has struggled a bit this season having posted a 3-6-4 record with a 1-2-2 LEC record but will prove to be a pivotal game in PSU's quest to make the LEC tournament.  Senior Jessica Swenson who has six goals on the season leads UMass Dartmouth.