MADELINE RAINERI | Reporter 

Lindenwood University’s women’s field hockey team will host the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament for its conference. The final two games for field hockey’s season will be played this weekend at the Harlen C. Hunter Stadium.

The field hockey team is going into this weekend with 17 regular season games played and only two losses out of those 17 games for a 15-2 record.

On Sept. 29, Lindenwood fell for the first time against rival school Limestone College with the final score coming out to 3-1 in Limestone’s favor in Gaffney, South Carolina.

Their second loss occurred against Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5. The Lions lost 3-0.

On Friday, Nov. 3, Lindenwood, ranked No. 1 in the conference, will face third-seeded Bellarmine University at 4 p.m. at home, according to the Lindenwood Student Life Sports. 

Lindenwood has met Bellarmine twice this season, once at home and once in Louisville, Kentucky.

Lindenwood won both matches, scoring three goals in both games.

On Sunday, Lindenwood will play at home again, but the team and time are to be determined.

Junior midfielder and defender Shelby Easley spoke about Lindenwood being the defending ECAC champions, and said, “We are looking to get the job done to keep the title here at Lindenwood, and were are hoping to get a shot at going to the NCAA tournament.”

In addition to Lindenwood going into the season finale with the top spot in the conference, on Thursday, Nov. 2, the ECAC announced its yearly awards. Senior defender Nicole Johnston was named the ECAC defender of the year. Junior Skylar Starbeck was named ECAC co-goalkeeper of the year for the second year in a row, and coach Sarah Johnson is the ECAC coach of the year.

Several other team members earned all-conference accolades as well.