Warriors must continue dominanc to advance in Little East playoffs
Below: The Warriors practice penalty kicks on the eve of Thursday's semifinals
by Matt Fontaine / Sports Information
Women's soccer (10-5-3) has earned the second seed in the Little East Conference playoffs for the third season in a row and will host No. 3 seed Massachusetts Boston (14-4-1) Thursday at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex at 3 p.m.
The Beacons defeated sixth-seeded UMass Dartmouth Tuesday by a score of 4-0 in a quarter-final playoff match for the right to play the Warriors. Eastern and UMass Boston shared identical (5-1-1) LEC records but due to the tiebreaker Eastern was awarded the second seed over the Beacons when it came down to goals allowed in conference play. Eastern only gave up five while UMass Boston gave up seven.
Spectators who saw the match between Eastern and UMass Boston a month ago at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex were treated to the top two defenses in the conferences.In that game, Eastern and UMass Boston battled to a double-overtime 0-0 tie in which both teams combined for a total of only nine shots and three saves. The tie did extend Eastern's all-time unbeaten record against the Beacons to 14 games, but did allow UMass to snap its 13 game losing streak against the Warriors, most of them by lopsided scores.
This season Eastern has turned to their veterans to lead the way. Senior Sarah Swann (Oxford) ranks at the top in many of the offensive categories in the conference. She is fourth in shots (62), second in points (31), tied for second in goals (13), and is first in game winning goals (5). Senior goalkeeper Kim Church (Farmington) has been in the net for all four years. Each season she has kept her goals against average below 1.00 per game. This season she has a 0.96 goals against average (third in the LEC),k and has recorded three shutouts. Fellow seniors Taylor MacDonald (Oaks Bluff, MA) and Christine Lemieux (South Windsor) have had great seasons as well. MacDonald has a total of seven points while Lemieux has contributed two assists from her defensive position. Lemieux, the 2008 LEC Defensive Player-of-the-Year, along with juniors Stephanie Norell (Stratford), and Lauren Hickey (Southwick, MA) have been the mainstays in a defensive front that shares the top spot in the conference in least goals allowed (17).
Rotating in on defense throughout the season have been sophomore Laura Violette (Wallingford) and freshman Rachel Cutler (Guiford). Violette is still recovering from an ankle injury and her status for Thursday is uncertain.
In addition to Violette and Cutler, Eastern's other young players have been exceptional as well. Freshman Kelly Wallace (South Windsor), this past week's conference Rookie-of-the-Week, leads the conference witih nine assists, while sophomore Jo-Ann Merheb (Bethel) is tied for fourth with seven. With seven goals and an assist, freshmen Daniela Marchitto (Orange) is second on the team with 15 points.
The Warriors will not have the services of freshmen Taylor Buchanan (Enfield) for the playoffs however. Buchanan was injured in practice leading up to the match versus the Beacons. Buchanan was third on the team with 14 points by scoring seven goals and assisting once. While losing Buchanan hurts, Eastern will see sophomore Lauren Greeney (Bethel) return to action. Greeney has only played in five games this season due to injury. In those five games she has started 3 of them and has taken nine shots. In 2008 she recorded 10 points.
After a year's absence, junior Amber Petrizzo (Plainville) has returned to start 13 games this season, and provides speed and quickness to the midfield. Other players who have contributed throughout the season have been junior Megan Pavia (Stamford), sophomores Sam Konopka (Hebron) and Katelyn Vaughan (Hamden), and freshman Christine DeFilippo (Ronkonkoma, NY).
Long-time the conference doomat with a 6-73-4 conference record and no playoff appearances through last year), UMass Boston has put up explosive numbers on offense. As a team, the Beacons easily lead the conference in points (162) and goals (59). Kristin Mulry who has played in all 19 games has only started in 4 of those game, ranks first in both points (35) and goals (16) in the LEC. Eastern as a team ranks third in points (122) and fourth in goals (39). Both the Warriors and Beacons are tied for first in the LEC in assists with 44.
UMass keepers Jessica Penta and Michelle Cain have split time throughout the season but rank 1-2 in goalkeeper statistics. They both have combined for nine shutouts which ranks first in the LEC while Eastern ranks third with a total of seven shutouts. Cain was the goalkeeper in the matchup against the Warriors earlier in the season.
Eastern has made it to the conference championship game the past two seasons but in both years they have been defeated by Western Connecticut, which is the fourth seed this year and will travel to No. 1 Keene State on Thursday in the other semifinal match at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Western defeated Southern Maine, 2-0 in the other quarterfinal match.
The conference championship game will be played Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed. The winner is awarded the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The match between the Warriors and the Beacons can be heard live on WECS beginning at 5:55 p.m. The match will be videotaped and archived on LittleEast.tv Thursday night.
