Panthers seeking repeat performance in Saturday's title game

            NEW HAMPTON, N.H. – Top-seeded Plymouth State University unleashed 14 first-half goals Thursday evening and went on to defeat fourth-seeded University of Southern Maine, 19-13, in a semifinal game of the Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament at the New Hampton School field.

            The Panthers, who captured their ninth straight win and improved to 13-3 overall, advance to Saturday's LEC Championship game at 1:00 at the New Hampton School field. PSU will host second-seeded Keene State College, which moved into the final with a 24-18 victory over third-seeded Western Connecticut State University Thursday. USM wraps up its season at 7-12.

            Plymouth State and Keene State will meet for the championship for the second year in a row. The Panthers topped the Owls 8-4 in Keene for the 2014 title.

            The high-powered PSU offense had a balanced scoring attack, with five players accumulating at least five points apiece. Freshman Megan Tingley (Natick, Mass.) and sophomore Caroline Vonachen (Framingham, Mass.) scored five goals apiece, with Tingley adding two assists for a season-high seven points. Sophomore Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, Mass.) added three goals and three assists, senior Amy MacDonald (Hull, Mass.) chipped in with three goals and two assists, and classmate Shannon Connerty (Nashua, N.H.) contributed a goal and a season-high five assists.

            Sophomore Heather Everett (Waterboro, Maine) led all scorers with six goals and an assist for Southern Maine, while senior Nicole Laplante (South Portland, Maine), junior Sarah Pelligrinelli (Southington, Conn.) and sophomore Sam Campobasso (Buxton, Maine) tallied two goals apiece.

            When the two teams met on the same field nine days ago, upset-minded Southern Maine scored the first three goals in the first three minutes. Thursday night it was the Panthers with the strong start, leading 3-0 after four minutes and 5-0 after 10 minutes, with goals by five different players. Pelligrinelli answered with back-to-back goals for the visitors, but PSU rattled off five in a row again, including two each by TIngley and Vonachen, to open up a 10-2 margin with 11 minutes to play in the half.

            A determined Southern Maine squad didn't give up and came back with three straight goals and four of the next five, including two apiece from Campobasso and Everett, to cut the deficit to 11-6 with four minutes to go, but PSU put in the final three goals of the half to take a 14-6 lead at the break.

            Everett gave the Huskies life with two goals in the first minute of the second half, but PSU proved too strong for the visitors, scoring the next four goals, including two by Vonachen, to push the margin up to 10 goals, 18-8. USM tacked on four goals in a comeback bid before MacDonald closed out the scoring for PSU with two minutes to go and the Huskies got one more 20 seconds later for the 19-13 final.

            Senior Casey Curran (Framingham, Mass.) made a career-high 17 saves in the PSU goal. Seniors Molly Gleason (Haverhill, Mass.) and Rachel Fistori (Medford, Mass.) also made an impact on the game as Gleason collected nine draw controls and three caused turnovers and Fistori added six draw controls and two ground balls.

            Senior Julia Pearl (Essex Junction, Vt.) and Everett filled up the stat sheet for USM, as Pearl garnered six draw controls, two ground ball and two caused turnovers and Everett totaled three caused turnovers, three ground ball and two draw controls. Junior Anh Nguyen (South Portland, Maine) did what she could for the Huskies with a goal, two assists and three draw controls.

            MacDonald's five points for PSU moved her into second place on PSU's career scoring list with 171 goals, 85 assists and 256 points, passing Bethany Brown, who tallied 198-55-253 from 2003-06. Connerty's six points give her 144 goals, 75 assists and 219 points, fifth on the all-time school scoring list.

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