Box Score

PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Ellie Hunkins and Irini Stefanakos both continued their strong offensive campaigns, combining for two goals and two assists – both to each other – as the Keene State College field hockey team scored four goals in less than 22 minutes to sprint past Plymouth State University 4-2 in a Little East Conference game Wednesday night at Panther Field.
 
Records

• Keene State:  3-7, 3-1 LEC
• Plymouth State:  4-3, 2-2 LEC

How It Happened
The Owl duo, who now has a combined 15 goals and 36 points on the season, helped KSC put away a game where they flipped the script quickly and powerfully.  Plymouth State actually scored first in a strange sequence about halfway through the opening quarter, as just 15 seconds after Lauren Hausser's blast from the top of the circle was deemed to be outside of it, the Panthers were in front 1-0.  With KSC thinking they scored, the ball was fed to Taylor Healey, who carried it from the midfield line all the way into the circle, where she fed Sydney Spenard who put home a rebound of her initial shot past KSC keeper Molly Edmark.  PSU did have the better of the chances early on, getting four corners before taking the lead and overall outshooting the Owls 5-3 in the first 15 minutes, but that did not last long. The Panthers did not test Edmark again for nearly 35 minutes and had just two total shots in that span.
 
Meanwhile, Keene State was busy scoring, as they flipped the game around in quick fashion, scoring four consecutive times – twice in the second quarter and twice more in the opening 9:34 of the third – to build a 4-1 lead.  The Owls outshot PSU 16-2 over that 30 minutes, going from down 1-0 to comfortably in front.  Clara Hunkins tied the game at one with 12:22 left in the second quarter after she jumped on a ball that trickled away from Panthers goalkeeper Kayla Antonucci.  KSC's pressure did not stop there, as they continued to tilt the field to their side and eventually broke through again with just over a minute to go before halftime, as Hausser fired away from the top of the circle on a corner opportunity again, this time from inside the line for a 2-1 lead.  The Owl junior has taken eight shots in the last four games, five on target, after having five shot attempts in her first six games.
 
Plymouth did get a pair of penalty corner chances in the opening two minutes of the second half as they looked to tie the game, but the hosts could not record a shot and then saw Athena Comeau get a card.  KSC's two offensive leKSC's two offensive leaders went to work and put PSU in a deep hole just minutes later.  First, Stefanakos pressured Mariah Luscher into a turnover and streaked into the circle, finding Ellie Hunkins who slid the ball past Antonucci to her left for a 3-1 lead.  The Owls added another just 4:19 later when more pressure helped Grace Taylor advance up the field and into the circle, where Hunkins looked to shoot but instead found Stefanakos, who did not miss and retook the team lead in goals (8) just that quickly.
Overall, KSC's four goals came within 21:56 of each other as they went from down one to up three.  It was their biggest offensive outburst since scoring five times in 13:48 to build a 5-0 lead in an eventual 6-2 home win over the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on September 11.
 
Molly Edmark got the win and wound up making 11 stops, eight coming in the final 15 minutes as PSU racked up a 9-2 shots edge in that quarter and eventually got a second goal on Jess Mezquita's tally with 2:23 left.  Antonucci also finished with 11 saves but took the loss.
 
Penalty Strokes

• Hunkins has a goal in four consecutive games and six of the last seven.  She has 11 shots in the past three games and 20 since her goal streak began.
• Keene State has won 14 of the past 17 head-to-head meetings and leads the series 28-10-1.  They are 2-1 at the new Panther Field, also winning 3-2 there this past spring.
• The win was the 450th of head coach Amy Watson's career.  She is 450-208-11 and 15th on the all-time NCAA field hockey coaching wins list, regardless of division.  Nine of the 15 are still coaching, including Sharon Pfluger (The College of New Jersey), Enza Steele (Lynchburg College), and Dawn Chamberlin (Salisbury University) at the Division III level.

Up Next

• The Owls are back at it on Thursday (September 30) when they travel to Smith College (2-6, 1-1 NEWMAC) for a 6:30 p.m. start.
• Plymouth State stays home to entertain Eastern Connecticut State University (5-1, 3-0 LEC) on Friday, October 1 at 6:00 p.m. for a Homecoming game.