Box Score

CASTLETON, Vt. - Joe Nutting opened the game with the first six out of nine goals for Keene State, tacking on three extras in the contest for a total of nine goals in a convincing win over the Castleton University Spartans Tuesday night from Spartan Stadium. The nine goals from Nutting marks a career high and ten total points on the night matches a career high. Sophomore Ben Wright found twine four times and picked up one assist in the game to lead KSC to a 24-4 triumph. 
 
Records

• Keene State: 5-0, 4-0 LEC
• Castleton University: 0-7, 0-2 LEC

How It Happened
It only took 54 seconds in the opening frame to get the Spartans on the board, as Chris LaBonte opened the scoring on the night for Castleton, giving CU the 1-0 early advantage. KSC surrenders the first goal of the game for just the second time on the season, and first time since their opening contest against Western Connecticut State. Similar to the game against West Conn, the Owls stormed back quickly and would rack up the next nine goals in the quarter, and ten goals in a row in the contest. With the man up advantage, Keene's Cooper Cioffi got the scoring started on a feed from Colin Ford to give Cioffi his tenth of the season. Shortly after the Cioffi tally and again with a man up advantage, Joe Nutting found the back of the goal for one of his six first quarter goals to give the Owls the lead, a lead KSC did not lose for the remainder of the game. Ben Bunnell and Colby Quiet would also collect tallies for KSC as they took a 9-1 lead heading into the second quarter.  KSC out shot Castleton 16-4 in the first, with a high advantage in ground balls, scooping 11 to Castleton's five. 
 
Cooper Cioffi would collect his second goal of the game on an assist from Ben Bunnell to open the second quarter to give Keene State the nine-goal advantage. KSC would tally ten goals before Castleton's Chris LaBonte would pick up the next goal for Castleton, which was his second of the game. Nathan Sickles would quickly stop the Spartans from putting together any run of their own and fire a shot past Spartans goalkeeper Chris Wilk to regain the ten-goal lead for the Owls. Joe Nutting and Ben Wright also picked up goals for KSC in the second quarter, as well as a late tally from Ethan Holcomb to give KSC the 14-3 lead heading into the break. Keene State goalkeeper Alex Fawcett, who came into the contest in replacement of Chase Chamberlin, made two saves in the second quarter. Castleton doubled their shots plus one from the first quarter to the second quarter, coming away with 11. 
 
Scoring in the second half of the game would settle, as Keene State and Castleton would combine for just 11 second half goals after going for 17 first half goals combined between the two squads. Keene State would continue to take control of the game, scoring the final ten of 11 goals. A goal from Nathan Sickles that was assisted from Joe Nutting gave KSC the 12-goal advantage. With 4:43 to go in the third quarter, Nutting would score his ninth goal of the game, giving him his tenth point of a game, a mark he has only done one time, which came on April 26, 2019 at Southern Maine. Junior Brian Reese would end the third quarter for the Owls with his first tally of the season giving Keene the 19-4 lead heading into the final frame. Baylor Bridges tended the twine for the Owls in the third quarter, making four saves. The Owls out shot Castleton 14-12 in the frame. 
 
Keene State dominate the fourth, scoring five times to put the game and the Spartans away. Ben Wright collected a hat trick in the quarter for KSC, as well as goals coming from both Colin Ford and Robert Duarte to give Keene State the dominating 24-4 win. In the frame, freshman Charlie Giuliotti saw nine shots come his way, with two on goal. Giuliotti made both saves to secure the 15-minute shutout in the quarter.  Giuliotti has not allowed a goal in 17:40 of action this season. Castleton goalkeepers Chris Wilk and Maxx Ingison allowed 24 goals and made a combined ten saves in the contest. 
 
Inside the Crease

• The Owls dominated Castleton in their third all-time meeting. Keene State put up 24 goals on the night against the Spartans, which is the most in the three meeting between these two teams with their previous high coming in 2010, when the Owls put up 21 goals. 
• Keene has put up 50 goals in the last two games and has collected 103 total on the season while just giving up 26. The Owls four goalkeepers combined to make nine total saves on the night.
• KSC caused nearly double the turnovers that Castleton did on the evening, as the Owls were led by Shane Molloy (6 CT) and Brian Reese (4 CT).  On the season, the Owls have caused 62 turnovers. 
• Freshman Colby Quiet took the lead in ground balls, scooping 14 on the night, with Shane Molloy also in double figures with ten. Castleton's Chris LaBonte scooped nine ground balls while also scoring twice in the contest. 

 
Up Next

• Keene State will travel to in state rival Plymouth State University for a Saturday afternoon matchup on April 24 at 3:00 pm. 
• The Spartans will travel to Don Melander Field on the campus of New England College on Thursday, April 22 for a 7:00 start time in search of their first win on the season.