KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College field hockey team scored a late first half goal and added an insurance tally early in the second en route to a 2-1 season-opening win over the University of New England on Saturday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.

Records

• Keene State:  1-0
• University of New England:  0-1

How It Happened

Keene State scored with less than five minutes remaining in the first half and within the first ten minutes of the second to take command of what had been a scoreless game for the opening 30 minutes.

UNE had four penalty corners in the first 20 minutes of the opening half, but could not convert.  Rachel Loseby denied the Nor'easters' best chance, which came off the stick of Kendra MacDonald at the 20:09 mark.

From there, the Owls slowly took command of the game, eventually finding the back of the cage for a 1-0 lead when Nina Bruno fed Kayla Klein at the 30:27 mark.  KSC had two more penalty corners before the first half expired, but Julia Babbitt's shot was stopped by UNE goalkeeper Liz Sargent in the final minute.

The teams exchanged chances as the second half began, but it was the Owls who again capitalized.  A penalty corner in the 44th minute eventually resulted in a goal when Erica Stauffer set up Ally McCall for a 2-0 lead.

The Owls went right back on the attack over the next minute, but a shot from Bruno went wide.  The Nor'easters answered with a penalty corner opportunity in the 46th minute and another in the 58th minute, but Loseby denied both shot attempts.

The Nor'easters could not get much going over the final ten minutes until a succession of penalty corners resulted in a goal from Bailey Lynch with no time on the clock.

Loseby (1-0) got the win in goal for the Owls, making five stops.  Sargent made a pair of saves for UNE in the losing effort.

Penalty Strokes

• Keene State won their season-opener for the tenth consecutive year and evened the all-time series with UNE at 2-2, with the home team winning each game.  Before today, the Owls last beat the Nor'easters on August 30, 2014 by an identical 2-1 score.
• UNE held a slim 8-7 lead in shots, including 6-4 in ones on goal.  They also had 13 penalty corners to Keene State's six, though four of those came after time had expired in the second half.
• Klein, who scored KSC's first goal of the season, was making her first career start.
• University of New England was receiving votes in the NFHCA preseason poll.

Up Next

• Keene State travels to play Lasell College on Wednesday, September 5 at 4:00 pm.
• UNE continues a long season-opening road stretch, visiting No. 15 Bowdoin College on the same day for a 7:00 pm start.