MANSFIELD, Conn. - Junior Ashley
Gutowski (Conway, NH) and senior Rachel
Kirschner (Burlington, Conn.) scored on their team's first
two shots of the game in a span of three minutes and it was enough
for the Plymouth State University field hockey team to post a 2-0
Little East Conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State
University Saturday afternoon.
In a battle of teams looking to return to the conference playoffs,
Plymouth State (4-4, 4-1) won its third in a row and kept pace in
the early race for the regular-season title with Salem State and
Keene State, each of whom won to remain a game behind unbeaten
front-runner Keene State College. The loss is the fifth in a row
for Eastern (2-8, 1-4) this year and 12th without a win against
Plymouth State in the series.
Just returning after missing several games with an injury, Gutowski
scored her first goal of the year on a pass from sophomore
Morgan Lemmon (Gilford, N.H.) following a penalty
corner with just under 10 minutes gone to give Plymouth a 1-0
lead. Kirschner made it 2-0 less than three minutes later
when she carried the ball down the middle of the Eastern defense
and fired a shot inside the right post. Kirschner had never scored
before this week, and has now scored in two straight games.
Shut out for the first time over its last six matches, Eastern
managed only two shots in the second half and was not awarded a
penalty corner (Plymouth had eight in the half). The shots
came in succession 12 minutes into the second half and came off the
sticks of freshman Rene Breton (Stafford, Conn.) and junior Drew
Gomes (Thomaston, Conn.). Breton's shot was stuffed by Plymouth
senior goalie Leah Curtin (Londonderry, N.H.) and
constituted her only save of the half, the Gomes' follow-up rolled
wide.
The Warriors' best chance came 15 minutes into the match, but
Plymouth freshman Betsy Renauld (Penacook, N.H.)
cleared a shot by Eastern freshman Paige Booth (Hollis, N.H.) off
the goal line.
Eastern winds up a string of five straight home matches -- looking
for its first win in that stretch - Tuesday against Fitchburg State
College in a conference match at 4:30 p.m.
PSU takes its three-game winning streak to rival Keene State for a
key LEC contest (6:00 p.m.)
(Courtesy of Eastern Conn. Sports Information)
-- 30 --
