NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - A hat trick of hat tricks for Kayla Klein and a four-goal game from Nina Bruno helped the Keene State College field hockey team cruise to an 8-1 victory over UMass Dartmouth in LEC action on Saturday afternoon at Cressy Field.

Records

• Keene State:  5-0, 1-0 LEC
• UMass Dartmouth:  0-4, 0-2 LEC

How It Happened

Klein and Bruno, who alternated scoring on each of the first six KSC goals, have been the motor for the Owls' offense thus far this season, combining for 16 goals and three assists.  It was more of the same from that duo on Saturday in the opener of Little East Conference play.  Bruno had five shots on goal, scoring four times, while Klein was all over the place, registering 10 shots, eight on goal while scoring three times.

KSC had scored first in all four games this season, and this afternoon was no different as the Owls were on the board less than a minute and a half in when Ally McCall fed Klein after a penalty corner for a 1-0 lead.  Keene State doubled the lead less than seven minutes later when Bruno scored her first of the game off a centering feed from Kelsey Roberts in the 8th minute.  UMass Dartmouth had a trio of chances over a two minute span a few minutes later, but Rachel Loseby stopped Ciara Anderson's shot and two others were blocked.  The Owls poured it on over the remainder of the half, as Klein gathered a deflection and fired it past UMD goalie Allison Burke for a 3-0 lead at the 18:56 mark.  A 24th minute penalty corner again resulted in a tally a short time later when McCall found Bruno for a four-goal advantage.  KSC kept the pressure going, forcing three corners over the next five minutes, and eventually cashed in when Klein put back her own rebound for the hat trick and a 5-0 lead.

Bruno had her own less than three minutes into the second half after blasting a shot past Burke at the 37:22 mark.  She tacked on another for good measure about 10 minutes later as Keene State took a 7-0 advantage.  The Corsairs got on the board with a little less than 20 minutes remaining when Anderson found Bridget Harrington, who then found the back of the cage as UMD spoiled the shutout.  Roberts had several chances in the final ten minutes and was finally rewarded when she scored her first of the season at the 62:30 mark, giving KSC an 8-1 lead.  Klein nearly became KSC's second four-goal scorer in the game, but was denied three times in the 64th minute.

Loseby (5-0) got the win in goal for Keene State, making a pair of saves in 47:44.  Jordan LaRaus and Tess Whitney also saw action in the second half.  Burke fell to 0-4, making six stops in 52:25 for the Corsairs before being relieved by Katelyn Banalewicz.

Penalty Strokes

• The Owls outshot the Corsairs 26-8 (19-3 on goal) and had an 8-6 advantage in penalty corners.
• Klein, who had the hat trick within the first 30 minutes, has scored three goals in three consecutive games.  She now has ten on the season and could crack into the top ten in single season goal totals.  The most goals scored in a single season was 36 by Sami Smith in 2016.  Klein also came in tied for fourth nationally in goals per game (1.75), and raised that to an even 2.00.
• It was Bruno's first career four-goal game.  She now has nine points on the season and 39 in 28 career games.
• Keene State emphatically gained a measure of revenge after falling to the Corsairs 2-0 last year.  KSC leads the all-time series, 24-6.

Up Next

• The Owls will play a second consecutive league road game, as they travel to the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday, September 18 for a 6:30 pm start.
• UMass Dartmouth goes to No. 4 Babson College on Monday, September 17 for 6:00 pm matchup with the Beavers.  It is the Corsairs' second matchup against a ranked team this season.