Field Hockey Downs Eastern Connecticut, 2-1

MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior Marinna Emond (Seekonk, MA), who had scored one goal in 29 matches off the bench in two years at Eastern Connecticut State University, scored her first two goals in a Bridgewater State University uniform in her first collegiate  start to give the Bears a 2-1 Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.

The win is the seventh straight for Bridgewater State (8-8, 6-4 Little East) over Eastern (7-9, 4-6 Little East) and drops the Warriors from a tie for seventh place in the conference to a tie for eighth place with one regular-season match remaining. Bridgewater moved from a tie for fifth place into a tie for fourth place.

Emond scored her first goal five minutes into the second half, then made it 2-0 four minutes later with her second goal. After Eastern forward Alex Kallgren (Dudley, MA), the top freshman scorer in the LEC, scored her team-leading 11 with 12 minutes left, the Warriors failed on a bid to tie the match when they could not convert a penalty stroke with 40 seconds left.

In the final minute against Bridgewater, Eastern had two shots, three penalty corners and one penalty stroke, but could not gain the equalizer.

Bridgewater sophomore goalie Kaylyn Allahyarian (Norwell, MA) made four saves, two coming in the final minute, while Eastern sophomore keeper Samantha Scavo (Redding, CT) made two.

Freshman midfielder Tori O'Dea (South Dennis, MA) assisted on Emond's first goal and helped set up her second goal, feeding sophomore midfielder Brittany Cullinane (Lunenburgm, MA), who got the ball to Emond for the ultimate game-winner. First-year sophomore transfer Caroline Regan (Niantic, CT) came off the bench for her first career point for Eastern when she was credited with a helper on Kallgren's goal.

Eastern held a 17-5 advantage in shots and a 14-4 margin in penalty corners.

The loss is the sixth in the last seven matches for Eastern, which holds the tie-breaker for eighth place over Westfield State. Westfield visits Western Connecticut and Eastern hosts Worcester State University, which is one game ahead of Eastern in the LEC standings.

Bridgewater is tied with Western Connecticut for the fourth spot in the conference standings. The Bears travel to non-conference foe Wheaton College on Tuesday afternoon (4:00) before wrapping up regular season play at home next Saturday afternoon (3:30) against Plymouth State University.