Box Score

HENNIKER, N.H.- Senior Joe Nutting (Amherst, N.H.) led the way for the Owls with four goals and four assists in Keene State's first non-conference game since March 4, 2020 in a 17-5 win over the New England College Pilgrims from Don Melander Field Wednesday night. The Owls improve to 3-0 on the season and move to 5-2 all time against the Pilgrims, including five straight wins. Senior Ben Bunnell struck for three goals and added one assist for KSC.
 
Records

• Keene State: 3-0
• New England College: 2-3

How it Happened
 
From the opening draw, New England College started off with a slight advantage, as the Pilgrims took the first two shots in the first minute of the game. Keene State's defense stood tall and did not let the Pilgrims take a shot on goalkeeper Chase Chamberlin. The Owls took momentum in the quarter when freshman Colby Quiet collected his goal first of the game and fourth goal of the season on an assist from Justin Norris, giving KSC the opening 1-0 lead. KSC has opened the first quarter with the first goal of the game in two straight contests. Just 52 seconds after the Quiet goal, NEC would respond with a goal of their own as Guershon Villiere took the feed from Thomas Doe and picked up the first tally of the game for the Pilgrims. Senior Joe Nutting would respond just over two minutes later with his first goal of the game, giving the Owls the 2-1 lead. In fact, Nutting would collect the Owls next three goals giving him his third hat trick in three games this season for KSC. With just 28 seconds to go in the opening frame, Ben Bunnell would add an extra tally as he received a pass from Justin Norris to give KSC the 5-1 lead heading into the second quarter. 
 
Bunnell would continue the Owls scoring streak in the game as he collected his second of the night just 14 seconds into the second quarter on an assist from Joe Nutting. KSC would score seven straight in the contest, capped off by senior Paxton Blanchard netting his first goal of the season to give the Owls the 7-1 lead. Blanchard picks up his fourth career goal in an Owl uniform. With a man up, New England College would strike for a tally to end the KSC goal scoring route as Guershon Villiere picked up his second of the night. Keene State would seize another opportunity to score with under a minute left to play in the quarter as Cooper Cioffi picked up his first of the contest, giving KSC the 9-2 lead into halftime. Keene State has scored eight goals this season with one minute or less on the clock in any quarter. 
 
Keene State goalkeeper Chase Chamberlin made two saves to open the third quarter to keep NEC off the board. Keene State would pick up their goaltender and answer with all five goals in the third quarter as Max Thurston picked up his third goal of the season, as well as goals coming from Cioffi, Nutting, Nathan Sickles, and Quiet. Joe Nutting would pick up his fourth tally while a man up with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter, giving the Owls the 14-2 lead. 

Senior Colin Ford scored his second goal of the season to open the fourth quarter on an assist from Ben Wright giving the Owls the huge 13 goal advantage. New England College would try to build some momentum with ten minutes to go in the fourth quarter as they were able to take four shots, all within 30 seconds but they were unable to put up a single shot on GK Chase Chamberlin in the sequence. However, NEC did strike with three goals in the fourth quarter, which included the third of the night from Guershon Villiere. The junior picks up his first career hat trick in his Pilgrims career and has matched his career high with four goals on the season. Joe Nutting would pick up his eighth and final point of the night on the last goal of the game that was released from the stick of Ben Bunnell, giving the Owls the 17-5 victory over New England College. For Nutting, he picks up his second highest total in points in his Owls career with eight total points. He scored eight goals and added two assists against Southern Maine on April 26, 2019 for a career best. 
 
Inside the Crease

• Keene State has outscored their opponents 53-16 so far this season. The Owls have now twice put up 17 goals in a contest, with their highest total of 19 coming last time out in a win over Eastern Connecticut State. 
• Senior's Justin Norris and Ben Bunnell tallied four points apiece in the Owls 17-5 victory on the night. Norris tallied the seventh goal of the evening for KSC and assisted on three others, whereas Bunnell netted goal numbers five, six, and seventeen while also tallying an assist on Joe Nutting's first goal of the game. Norris now has six goals and three assists on the season, and Bunnell has collected seven goals and two assists for Keene.
• Keene State goalkeeping has allowed just 16 goals all season with Chase Chamberlin playing the first 47:05 tonight making three saves. Senior Alex Fawcett came in relief and was credited one save on the night. 
• In the contest, Keene State took 50 shots, with NEC ripping just 27. Keene State was successful in 15 out of 20 clearing attempts, with NEC successful in 11 out of 17. 
• Freshman Colby Quiet led the way in ground balls for the Owls picking up 10, a season best for the Quiet and the Owls team this season. Guershon Villiere led NEC in nearly every statistical category on the night, picking up a team best three goals, three shots on goal, and four ground balls.
• The KSC defense has been strong through the first three games of the season holding teams to a .536 shots on goal percentage and just 28 shots per game. 
• Today marks the first time NEC has hosted Keene State at Don Melander Field in men's lacrosse. Previous matchups between the two schools have either come at the Owl Athletic Complex (five times) or in Clermont, Florida (one time). 

Up Next

• Keene State will be back in Little East Conference Action on Saturday, April 17 when they travel to Hannaford Field on the campus of the University of Southern Maine for a 3:00 pm faceoff. 
• NEC will have just one day off in between their games as they will next travel to Willimantic, Connecticut and visit the Eastern Connecticut State Warriors on Friday, April 16 at 3:00 pm. It will be the fourth meeting all time between these two schools with the Warriors taking the first three previous matchups from the Pilgrims.