BABSON PARK, Mass. –
Hannah Wood scored with 4:28 remaining in the first half to bring the Keene State College field hockey team within one, but sixth-ranked Babson College scored three times in less than nine minutes to open the second half and went on to post a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon in the first ever meeting between the two teams at MacDowell Field.
Records
- Keene State: 5-9
- No. 6 Babson: 12-1
How It Happened
Brianne McGrath and Millie Brady each scored twice and combined for seven shots on goal as the Beavers, whose only loss this season came in a game at No. 1 Middlebury College, pulled away with a dominant third quarter that saw them score three times. The Beavers had gotten off to a fast start in the first frame, also, but Owl goalkeeper
Molly Edmark was more than up to the task, stopping tries two tries apiece from Lauren Curley and Isabelle Fournier as part of her seven stops in the opening 14:30. Babson eventually broke through following a corner play in the 15th minute for a 1-0 lead. Brady found the back of the cage less than four minutes later on a blast from the left side of the circle to double the advantage, but Keene State had the better of the play over the final 10 minutes of the quarter, including three corner chances.
The Owls' first big opportunity of the game came in the 21st minute when
Irini Stefanakos broke free, but Babson goalkeeper Cassidy Riley made a sliding stop. KSC had three corners thereafter and cashed in on the last of them as
Lauren Hausser found
Hannah Wood at the right post to make it a 2-1 game at the 25:32 mark, which it remained heading into halftime after Edmark made one more of her eight first half saves.
It was all Babson in the second half, as Brady carried into the circle and beat new KSC keeper
Victoria Watson to the right post just 2:24 into her stint. McGrath and Fournier followed just minutes later, scoring just 2:24 apart to make it a 5-1 game and the Beavers were well on their way from there, snuffing out the Owls' second quarter uprising quickly.
Watson made three saves while playing the third quarter and
Ashley Enis a pair of stops in the fourth in the Keene State cage, while Riley picked up the win for Babson after making one save.
Penalty Strokes
- Wood has points in three of her last four games. The goal is her first since scoring a pair against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on September 11.
- Today marked the fourth time Edmark has made eight or more saves in a game this season.
- Babson has won the last two games in the series over the past three years after KSC took the first head-to-head meeting in the 2002 ECAC tournament.
Up Next
- Keene State returns home for a Little East Conference contest against Fitchburg State University (1-11, 0-6) on Tuesday night (October 12) at 6:30 p.m.
- After playing five games in the past eight days, Babson is off until Saturday, October 16 when they host Wheaton College (Mass.) (7-5, 3-1 NEWMAC) at 12:00 p.m.
