Box Score KEENE, NH - The Keene State College field hockey team dropped a 6-3 decision to New Paltz State in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Wednesday evening at Owl Athletic Complex.
The Owls finish the season at 19-5 and saw their 15 game winning streak come to an end.
"I don't feel like the score indicates how the two teams played with each other today," said Keene State Head coach Amy Watson. "New Paltz played well, they were persistent especially in the second half."
KSC got on the board just three minutes into the game when Sami Smith tipped in a shot from the top of the circle by Melissa Habelow on the Owls first corner opportunity.
New Paltz countered back in the eighth minute when they were awarded a penalty stroke after a foul in the circle by KSC. Jessica Caruana's attempt hit the post and bounced in the back of the net to even up the match.
Keene State took the lead again at 14:36 when Smith broke through the Hawks' defense and blitzed a shot past the keeper to put the Owls up 2-1.
Their lead would not last for long as New Paltz struck again when Sam Eberle collected a rebound off the pads of the keeper and found the back of the cage.
The Hawks made adjustments and had a strong second half scoring four goals compared to one for the host Owls.
Erin Landy gave New Paltz an early lead just 1:38 into the second half against the new KSC goalkeeper Shauna Whittemore.
However, the Owls would not go away as Sami Smith was able to beat her defender down the right side of the field and found an open Mariah Barnett waiting on the left post to put it home to tie the game at 3-3.
From that point on, the Hawks scored three unanswered goal to secure the victory. Alex Gallo recorded the game winner, while Kayla McKeveny and Deirdre O'Neill tallied insurance goals for New Paltz for the eventaul 6-3 final.
"We had some beautiful goals on corners and I think the second half is when we came out and made some serious adjustments," New Paltz Head Coach Shanna Vitale said. "We started stepping up on Keene State's forwards in the backfield to contain them."
The Hawks outshot KSC 27-8 and had the advantage in corners 12-6.
Alayna Wageman finished with four saves for New Paltz, while both Meaghan Dwyer and Shauna Whittemore each made stops for the Owls.
The Hawks (15-6) advance to the second round and will travel to The College of New Jersey for a matchup with the Lions on Saturday, Nov. 15.
Watson is very optimistic about the future, "Our team is young and I think this is a great experience for us, so hopefully we'll take it and move on and be ready to make another run next year."
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