Panthers finish regular season in fifth place

            PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Sophomore Devon Edwards and junior Jessica Bouwman scored two second-half goals each Saturday afternoon at Arold Field as Western Connecticut State University came from behind to defeat Plymouth State University, 10-8, in the Little East Conference women's lacrosse regular season finale for both schools.

            Plymouth State led 7-4 at halftime but the Colonials scored the first six goals of the second half to pull out the victory. Sophomore Jess Tarascio scored the tying goal for WestConn with 20:54 on the second-half clock, and Bouwman tallied consecutive goals at 18:18 and 8:44 to put the visitors up by two.  Edwards added an insurance goal a minute later and the Colonials held off a Panther surge down the stretch.

            WestConn concludes the regular season with an 8-8 overall record and a 3-3 mark in conference play, earning the fourth seed in next week's LEC Tournament.  PSU wraps up the regular season at 7-7 overall and 2-4 in the Little East and will be the fifth seed in the LEC Tournament. Plymouth State will travel to WestConn for an LEC quarterfinal contest on Tuesday afternoon.

            Sophomore Caitlin Swanson (Holderness, N.H./Plymouth Regional) led all scorers with four goals and one assist for PSU.  Freshman Carol Messler (Durham, N.H.) added a pair and junior Jenn Foley (Tewksbury, Mass.) and freshman Emily Buckle (Danbury, Conn.) notched one each.  Foley picked up a team-high four ground balls, and Messler collected three draw controls and two ground balls.

            Sophomore Shelby Ingrao joined Edwards and Bouwman with two goals apiece for WestConn, while junior Lauren Poppe contributed a goal and two assists.  Poppe gathered a team-high four draw controls and junior Samantha Blackwell picked up three ground balls.

            The game was closed throughout the first half, as the teams were tied at one, two, three and four.  PSU closed out the half with four unanswered goals, the last two by Swanson, to take a 7-4 lead at the break.

            WestConn finished with a 25-18 advantage in shots, including a 14-7 margin in the second half.  The Colonials had a narrow margin on draws (11-9) while PSU collected more ground balls (18-16).  Freshman goalie Karli Portnoy made seven saves for WestConn, including a key stop on a free position shot late in the game.  Freshman Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.) made six saves for PSU. 

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