PSU Woman's Lax get back on track against Framingham State

Plymouth State University's women's lacrosse team ended their mini slump last Thursday, by beating Framingham State 16-6. This win ended the Panther's 3-game losing streak, and brought their overall record to 7-5 and 2-2 in Little East Conference play. 

The last game in Plymouth's 3-game losing streak was against Keene State, in which they lost 10-4. The final score doesn't really reflect how the Panthers played, as the halftime score was tied at three a piece. When I asked Head Coach Kristin Blanchette what happened in the second half of that game, Blanchette responded by saying "we weren't winning the draw (in the second half)". The way the Panthers played in the 1st half shows that they are able to play with anyone in the LEC.

The Panthers had a short memory, as they were up 12-1 in the first half against Framingham. Freshman Mekenna Bay (Maracaibo, Venezuela) and sophomore Cait Swanson (Holderness, N.H) did their fair share of the scoring as they contributed seven first half goals combined and sophomore Kristen Guest (Sandwich, Mass.) added two more goals before halftime. With this many players having the ability to score every time down the field, defenders on opposing teams have to keep their eyes on all of Plymouth's attack-men. As Coach Blanchette said "I think it makes us a hard team to beat because everyone is a threat. A team can't zero in on one or two players so I'm happy to see that we are so dynamic." 

This threat should help against upcoming opponents Southern Maine (which PSU played on Wednesday) and Western Connecticut tomorrow at noon. Both of these games are very crucial for the Panthers, because Southern Maine is 3-0 in conference play while WCSU is 2-2. A win over both of these teams would not only give the Panthers a lot of confident heading towards the playoffs, but would also give Plymouth a better seed.  Coach Blanchette called these last two games "the most crucial games of our season. (Both teams) are great teams and we need to play at our highest potential to beat them and get in a good spot for playoffs."

As I said earlier, the Panthers have many threats to score points. Five Panthers have over 20 points on the season (Swanson, Bay, Emily Buckle (Danbury, Conn.), Kathryn Rogers (Wolfeboro, N.H.), and Jenn Foley (Tewksbury, Mass.)), but there are players that go unnoticed as well. Kristen Guest leads the team with 22 groundballs and 13 forced turnovers and the team as a whole has averaged 11.25 goals per game on 23.2 shots. Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.) has also been rock solid in goal to, posting a 56% save percentage and earning all eight wins. The Panthers seemed poised to finish out the year strong, and look to advance far through the playoffs.