Box Score PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior forward Kristina Conroy (Wakefield, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal and assisted on another to lead the third-seeded Plymouth State University Panthers to a 2-1 win over the sixth-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies in a quarterfinal game of the 2010 Little East Conference Field Hockey tournament Tuesday afternoon at Arold Field in Plymouth, N.H.
With the win, the Panthers improve to 12-6 overall and advance to the semifinals of the tournament and will face either seventh seed Western Connecticut State or third seed Bridgewater State on Thursday, November 4 (tba). The loss concludes Southern Maine's season at 8-13. PSU needed overtime to defeat USM 3-2 in the regular season despite having a lopsided 31-5 advantage in shots.
Although the Huskies pressured Plymouth State early, ringing up three shots on goal and a penalty corner in the opening three minutes, it was the Panthers took the lead on their first shot of the game as sophomore forward Olivia Colborn (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountains Regional) deflected in a pass from Conroy in the 14th minute. PSU sophomore goalkeeper Hilary Lemelin (Milan, N.H./Berlin) made two saves in the USM flurry, while freshman back Aisha Rai Thompson (Berlin, N.H.) cleared the ball off the line for a defensive save.
Southern Maine bounced back from the deficit quickly converting a penalty corner into a goal when junior midfielder Amy Richardson (Turner, Maine/St. Dominic's) knocked in her third goal of the season off of an assist from junior midfielder Bethany Bougie (Sanford, Maine) in the 16th minute.
The score remained tied at one goal each until Conroy delivered the game winner at 29:59 of the first half completing the assist from junior midfielder Lauren Bergeron (New Hampton, N.H./Newfound).
Lemelin earned the shutout in the goal making five saves, while USM freshman Kayla Kennedy (Windham, Maine) took the loss. Kennedy did not make a save. USM's Bougie earned a defensive save for the Huskies. Both teams were even statistically with PSU holding slight advantage in shots (9-7) and penalty corners (12-7).
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