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Keene State College

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KEENE STATE OWLS
Field Hockey Postgame 10.29.2021
4
Winner Keene State KSC (10-10, 10-2 LEC)
1
Westfield State Westfield (9-9, 8-4 LEC)
Winner
Keene State KSC
(10-10, 10-2 LEC)
4
Final
1
Westfield State Westfield
(9-9, 8-4 LEC)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Keene State KSC 1 1 1 1 4
Westfield State Westfield 1 0 0 0 1

Game Recap: Field Hockey | | Ryan Hearn, Sports Information Assistant

Owl Leading Scorers Come Through, Help KSC Finish Off Little East Regular Season Title

Keene State Scores Four Unanswered, Locks Up No. 1 Seed in Conference For First Time Since 2016

WESTFIELD, Mass. – With the postseason on the horizon, leading scorers Irini Stefanakos and Ellie Hunkins teamed up to score the final three goals to break a 1-1 tie as the Keene State College field hockey team won their 15th Little East Conference regular season title with a 4-1 victory over Westfield State University Friday night at Alumni Field.

Records
  • Keene State:  10-10, 10-2 LEC
  • Westfield State:  9-9, 8-4 LEC
How It Happened
Needing a win to clinch the conference's top seed, yet also having a scenario in which a loss would drop them all the way to fifth, the Owls found themselves trailing 3:47 into the game when Westfield's leading point-getter Cheryl Latona found Shannon Roycroft in front of the cage for an early lead.  However, the home Owls' advantage was gone less than six minutes later when Maggie Cahoon set up Hannah Wood for a blast while carrying to the right in the circle following Emily White's corner, and KSC went on to score the final four goals of the game to win with ease.  Westfield goalkeeper Riley Goulet finished with eight saves, six coming in the opening quarter to help her team preserve a 1-1 tie for the moment.  Keene State went in front for the first time 1:49 into the second when, just seconds after a WSU foul, Grace Taylor carried into the circle and set up Stefanakos who rifled a shot past Goulet to make it 2-1.  Stefanakos had a whopping 10 shots, six on target, in the game, and Keene State overall outshot Westfield 12-5 in the opening half (21-14 in the game).  Victoria Watson, making her second consecutive start in the Owl cage, kept it a 2-1 game at the break after swatting aside Madison Ouellette's shot following a corner in the 27th minute.

Field Hockey 2021 Little East Regular Season ChampionsKeene State nearly pushed their lead to two after a corner play barely over two minutes into the second half, but Stefanakos' try was blocked before falling to Cahoon, whose seemingly sure goal was cleared off the line by Morgan Wichmann at the last second.  Ouellette had a bid to tie the game a minute later, but Watson stopped that one also before the ball trickled away and an eventual whistle on Westfield.  KSC and Stefanakos picked up a big insurance tally to make it 3-1 less than two minutes later, with the Owl freshman standout carrying the ball into the circle before a sweeping backhand effort bounced past Goulet.

Watson came up big in the second half for KSC, making six of her eight saves in the final 30 minutes, including yet another on Ouellette in the 41st minute.  The Westfield sophomore had six shots, all on goal, but was denied every time, including twice in just seconds early in the fourth and in the 53rd minute.  White also steered aside a shot by Latona with about seven minutes to go to keep Keene State, who had just come up empty on six shot attempts in a 1:34 span, ahead by two.  Hunkins' shot was one of two blocked (three others were saved by Goulet and one wide) in that stretch, but she made good just minutes later to end whatever hope Westfield had left, tipping home Lauren Hausser's blast after Chase Lambert's corner feed.  Keene State had an efficient evening on corners, compiling an 11-4 advantage in that category along the way.
Watson improved to 3-0 after stopping eight of nine shots in KSC's cage.  Goulet fell to 9-8 for Westfield.

Penalty Strokes
  • Stefanakos and Hunkins finish the regular season with a combined 31 goals and 73 points in 20 games.
  • KSC has won nine of 12 following a 1-7 start, getting to the .500 mark for the first time this season tonight.
  • The Owls have scored four or more goals in five of the past six games.
  • Keene State has beaten Westfield 26 of 27 times in the all-time series.
Up Next
  • After clinching the league's top seed, KSC will take on the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament on Tuesday, November 2 (time TBA).  Seedings will be official at the conclusion of Saturday's three contests.
  • Westfield State will await the results of Saturday's games to see their seeding.  If Worcester State University and Eastern Connecticut State University both win, the Owls will be the No. 5 seed.  If one of the aforementioned teams loses, they will be fourth, and if both lose they will be third.   Westfield closed the regular season with back-to-back losses after a six-game winning streak.  They had fought back from an 0-4 start to the regular season, being outscored 17-5 in that span, to be in the conversation for the LEC's top seed in the final week of the league slate.
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