O’Rourke, Ledwith Help Field Hockey Edge Eastern Connecticut, 3-2

WORCESTER, Mass. --- Senior teammates Julie O'Rourke (Worcester, Mass.) and Taylor Ledwith (Springfield, Mass.) both finished with one goal and one helper each to pace Worcester State to a 3-2 victory over Eastern Connecticut in Little East field hockey action this morning at Coughlin Field.  

With the triumph, the Lancers improve to 6-4 while the Warriors slip to 5-4 in the loss. Both squads now sport identical 3-2 records in LEC play.

Eastern Connecticut senior Laura Chicorka (Enfield, Conn.) opened the contests scoring when she caught a rebound from the right side of the cage just 5:35 into the game.

Ten minutes later, O'Rourke ignited the offense for the Blue and Gold as the hosts scored twice, just 43 seconds apart.

O'Rourke found a hole in the defense and passed it to an open Ledwith before she scored again at the 16:23 mark off a pass by freshman Lindsay Ryan (Northbridge, Mass.), who corralled the ricochet of her own shot.

After much back and forth play over the next 35 minutes, senior Erika Lepkowski (Baldwinville, Mass.) netted a key insurance tally for the Lancers on the left side of the cage after she received a pass from Ledwith to make it a 3-1 contest.

The Warriors made things interesting as they rallied with 10:08 remaining in regulation. Following a scrum in front of the Lancer net, junior Gabriela Meza (Norwalk, Conn.) caught the loose ball in front of the net and she potted her first goal of the campaign.  

As the clock hit zeros, Eastern Connecticut had a chance late with consecutive penalty corners, but the freshman keeper Alison Beiksha (Hubbardston, Mass.) rejected a bid from by senior Hannah Keiser (Danbury, Conn.) the left side to help the Blue and Gold preserve the one goal margin for the final score.

Beiksha stopped nine of the 11 shots she saw on net while her counterpart, junior Samantha Scavo (Redding, Conn.), recorded four saves in the loss. Beiksha saw her record move to 4-3 and Scavo moved to 4-2 on the year.

Eastern Connecticut actually outshot the Lancers, 17-10 (13-8 on goal), and enjoyed a 10-6 led in penalty corners.

Sophomore Hayley Sutherland (Tewksbury, Mass.) and junior Alli Baker (Somerset, Mass.) were solid on the back line as they both logged defensive saves.

Both squads return to the pitch with LEC opponents on Wednesday. Worcester State travels to Bridgewater State at 7 o'clock while the Warriors host Fitchburg State at 4 p.m.