MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Goalies Allison Chappell and Jillian Delaney turned aside a total of 13 shots and the Bridgewater State University field hockey team converted four of its five shots into goals as the Bears downed Eastern Connecticut State University, 4-2, on the final day of the Little East Conference regular season.
The loss – Eastern's (7-8, 6-5 LEC) second straight after a four-game winning streak – guarantees that the Warriors will be on the road in the first round of the Little East Tournament. Bridgewater (7-8, 5-6 LEC), which entered the day locked in a three-way tie for seventh place, will be the seventh seed in the tournament which gets underway next Saturday. The top eight teams in the 12-team conference qualify for the conference playoffs.
Bridgewater responded to Eastern's early goal with a flurry of three goals in 12 minutes later in the first half, and after Eastern Lindsey McKeon's first career goal sliced the Eastern deficit to one (3-2), Julianne Kilduff put the game in the win column for the Bears with her fifth goal of the season with just over three minutes left.
Bridgewater's first two goals followed penalty corners from Kathryn Jacobson, who took a return pass to register the first goal and tie the match at 1-1 in the 17th minute. Jacobson was also credited with an assist on Emma Daly's seventh goal of the season to pushed the lead to 3-1 with seven minutes left in the first half. Samantha Hayes, the BSU team leader with 14 goals, assisted on Janet Maher's go-ahead goal that gave Bridgewater a 2-1 lead with ten minutes left in the half.
Eastern outshot Bridgewater, 20-5 and had an 11-7 lead in penalty corners. Heather Sholtes played the final 68 minutes in net in place of starter Maddie LaRusso, but did not make a save.
Eastern hosts Kean University in the regular-season finale Tuesday at 7 p.m. Bridgewater hosts Wheaton College in the Bears' regular season finale on Wednesday night at seven.