When the Eastern University women's lacrosse team lined up to start this afternoon's MAC playoff game against Lycoming College, they knew Saturday's 18-12 win was in the past, and that it would take a great effort to get past the Warriors.  The Eagles scored the only two goals of the last fifteen minutes of the contest to escape with a 14-12 victory.

Jessie Basch scored five times, and Katie Choquette added three more goals to fuel the Eastern offense, but the Eastern team needed some offense from unexpected places as the Warriors worked to take Basch and sophomore standout Grace Griffith out of the play. First-year midfielder Kristin Brownett came through with three second half goals for her first career hat-trick.

The biggest surprise, however, came shortly after the Warriors tied the game with two straight goals with fifteen minutes to play ni the game. Midfielder Jess Field caught the ball to the left of the cage and circled central. The speedy sophomore caught her mark off guard and drove straight to goal after faking a flip to Basch. Field fired a low shot for her fourth of the year in what turned out to be the game-winner.

Kim Campbell and the Eastern defense had the responsibility to take care of the rest. Campbell made five big saves in the final fifteen minutes of play, but the work of her defenders in front of her kept the Warriors from finding great scoring opportunities from good angles. Campbell, the 2008 PAC Championship tournament MVP, has been building into the playoffs, and she finished with a strong 15 save effort this afternoon.

Basch finished the scoring with an important insurance goal on a powerful 8 yard shot from Kristin Brownett with 2:24 to play. Her 62nd goal of the season was also the 200th of her standout career. The Eastern career assist leader is one of just four Eastern players to reach the 200 goal plateau.

On Saturday, the Eagles were able to pull away to an early lead and kept building. There would be no pulling away for either team today. Lycoming's Megan McIntyre opened the scoring with her first of four on the day. Giriffth and Basch answered in short succession to put the Eagles up 2-1.

The visitors then scored a twice to retake the lead with 16:55 on the clock before the game slowed down into more of a midfield affair. Basch finally found an opening and tied the game at 3-3 with just over eleven minutes to play. The Warriors took advantage of a charging violation to earn back possession and took the lead at 4-3 with eight minutes left. 

But Choquette then put together a two goal run of her own. The senior from Rhode Island is controlled the ensuing draw and raced straight to the cage for her first goal of the day. Two minutes later she survived a tough check to the body inside the eight and converted the free position goal for her 37th of the year. Choquette has increased her scoring totals in each of her four years at Eastern. An undersized attacker, Choquette took time to transition to the college game and over the past three years has served as a critical option in the attack after scoring just four goals in her freshman season.

One minute later Basch circled around the cage and powered home her third of the day to give the Eagles a two goal cushion. The goal was the 100th point of the season for Basch. It is the second 100 point season for Basch, who tallied 123 points in her sophomore year before missing a significant segment of her junior year with illness.

The Warriors came out of their time out with renewed resolve and leveled the score at 6-6 with two goals in the final 2:04 of the half. Lycoming held a 15-11 edge in shots in the opening period, but Campbell was up to the task with seven saves before the break.

The Eagles scored the first two goals out of the break. Griffith put the Eagles up when she scooped up a rebound of a Basch shot on the doorstep and flipped into the top part of the cage. Brownett then scored her first of the day ona  beautiful quick stick goal on from Choquette. Grace Garguilo answered with two straight for Lycoming to tie the game within three minutes of Brownett's effort. 

The Eagles controlled the ensuing draw and looked to be in to retake the lead, but Brittany Ryan, who had recently entered the game for the Warriors made the sav and started the transition the other way. Lycoming took their final lead on a transition goal from McIntyre.  Choquette answered back after Basch and Griffith combined to force a turnover near midifield. Griffith found her senior teammate on the back post, and Choquette put away her 38th of the year.

Brownett scored to give the Eagles a 10-9 lead, and Basch buried another shot to the upper corner to put the Eagles up 11-9. Lycoming closed the gap to 11-10 on McIntyre's fourth of the day before Brownett rolled in a free position shot to complete her hat trick. Were it not for the heroics of Field, the story of the day might have been Lycoming's Laura Carpenter. Carpenter came off the bench in the second half and promptly scored her fifth and sixth goals of the year to level the game at 12-12 with half a period left.

Out of Coach Azzarano's first time-out, the Eagles lost the ensuing draw, but Basch checked the ball free and moved it ahead to Brownett. Her shot went wide, but Field backed up the goal to retain possession for the Eastern squad, and made her mark on the game with the unexpected drive to goal. Azzarano was pleased to see Field take responsibility at that point.

The Eagles used a combination of solid possession, aggressive defense in the midfield, and solid goalkeeping to finish the game and advance to Thursday's semifinal at top-seeded Elizabethtown. Azzarano looks forward to the rematch with the Blue Jays. "They are a very good team," she said, "and we know that we will have to step up our game to advance, but that is really what we want to do anyways. We made some big plays today, but we will have to play our best game on Thursday."

Thursday's game begins at 4:00 pm at Elizabethtown College.

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