Box Score KEENE, N.H. –
Irini Stefanakos recorded her first collegiate hat trick and
Hannah Wood added the first two goals of her career as the Keene State College field hockey team scored early and often in a 6-2 victory over the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the Little East Conference opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.
Records
- Keene State: 1-4, 1-0 LEC
- UMass-Dartmouth: 1-4, 0-1 LEC
How It Happened
In their most sustained offensive pressure so far in the young season, KSC scored five times in less than 14 minutes spanning the first and second quarters to turn the game into a quick runaway. The Corsairs had a corner chance just 1:19 in, but nothing came of it, and they wound up putting just one shot on target in the opening half.
Ellie Hunkins potted her third goal of the season off a feed from
Hannah Wood to open the scoring for the Owls at the 10:10 mark, and that was only the beginning, as Stefanakos and Wood each scored twice in a 2:53 span in the second quarter to make it a 5-0 game. Hunkins has scored in three of the past four games and has been a big threat in the past two games, putting seven shots on target. She and Stefanakos both had a team-best four shots on goal this afternoon.
Keene State outshot the Corsairs 11-2 in the opening half and 19-7 in the game. After seeing their opponents have 32 more corners than them (43-11) in the past two contests, the Owls enjoyed a 20-7 edge in that category today, including 9-2 in the opening 30 minutes.
UMass-Dartmouth got on the board with about seven minutes remaining in the third quarter when Mya Amaral scored and made it a 5-2 game when Brittany Perry found the back of the cage in the 52nd minute, but KSC's five-goal lead was far too much to overcome. After a 9-0 season-opening win over Dean College, the Corsairs had scored only once in their next three games, dropping all of them by a combined 9-1 score. Stefanakos finished off her three-goal effort by picking up a loose ball in the box and firing it past UMD keeper Hannah Trombly with 4:58 left.
Molly Edmark (1-4) picked up the win by making four saves. Alyssa McDonough (1-2) stopped three shots and Trombly four for UMass-Dartmouth.
Penalty Strokes
- Stefanakos and Hunkins have combined for nine of KSC's 13 goals on the season and are the team leaders in shots and shots on goal. Stefanakos is second in the conference with her six goals, one behind Emily Harris of Castleton University (7).
- The Owls have won the last three meetings in the series by an aggregate score of 23-3. KSC is 26-7 all-time vs. UMD, 16-1 at home.
Up Next
- Keene State wraps up their five-game homestand with a game against Amherst College (2-0) on Tuesday, September 14 at 6:30 p.m. After that contest, the Owls will be home just five more times over the remainder of the regular season. The Mammoths, receiving votes in the Penn Monto/NFHCA preseason poll, will be coming off a 2-1 road victory over 7th-ranked Bowdoin College.
- UMass-Dartmouth returns home to host Roger Williams University (3-0) on the same night at 7:00 p.m.
