NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – After a two-goal, three-assist, seven-point afternoon on Saturday, Keene State College sophomore forward Irini Stefanakos tacked on two more goals and two more assists less than 48 hours later as the Owls mostly coasted to an 8-3 road victory over the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in Little East Conference action on a grey Monday afternoon at Cressy Field.

Records

• Keene State:  8-7, 7-1 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  2-11, 0-8 LEC

How It Happened
Playing a game that was originally scheduled for September 10 and the second of a season-closing six game in 14-day stretch, KSC used a strong start to build a quick lead and used their offense to overwhelm the Corsairs despite the home team compiling one fewer shot today than that had total in their last four games combined.  For Stefanakos, it is now the best two-game stretch of her still-young career and marks the fifth time in the last seven games she has a goal, sitting now with a team-best 10 goals and seven assists (27 points) on the season.  The eight tallies for Keene State as a team were easily their most of the season, surpassing the five they scored in three previous wins over Bridgewater State University, Salem State University, and Framingham State University.  Ellite Hunkins finished with a goal and three assists for the Owls, while Maggie Cahoon had a goal and an assist.  Harley Hodge had a marker and a helper for UMass-Dartmouth, who lost their tenth straight game and has been outscored 56-5 in that span.  In their last outing, the Corsairs were whitewashed 10-0 and outshot 34-1 at the University of Southern Maine, one of the three teams in a row that are in the top seven and even or within two games of Keene State in the loss column in the LEC standings.

It seemed it would be a quick runaway, as the Owls scored twice in 2:02 in the opening 7:24 of the quarter as Stefanakos scored from a Hannah Wood pass in the sixth minute before helping Maggie Cahoon score moments later.  KSC had six of the seven shots and all three of the penalty corner chances in the opening 15 minutes against a team that had more than one goal in a game just three times on the season.  However, UMD posted a quick answer, getting a strike from Jenna Carvalho 11 minutes in on their first shot of the game to trim the deficit to 2-1 late in the first.

The shots were even at five apiece in the second quarter, but Keene State took a 4-1 lead into halftime by scoring the only two goals of the period.  Hunkins found the back of the cage following a corner and a Cahoon feed at the 17:17 mark to restore a two-goal lead and Stefanakos was back at it with 3:58 left, tipping home a point blast from Paula Vasiliadis, who has received Stefanakos' inserting pass.  KSC keeper Clara Gorman kept it a three-goal gap by stopping Maggie Doherty with a minute and change left in the half.

Keene State kept their offense going in the third quarter, scoring just 1:58 into the new half as Stefanakos and Julia Baer played give-and-go up the right side of the field before Stefanakos found a waiting Clara Hunkins by the far post to tap the ball into a vacated cage as UMD keeper Hannah Trombly had come out to try to deny the pass.  UMass-Dartmouth then had six penalty corners in less than three minutes and generated four shots, one of which had to be cleared away by Owl defender Lauren Hausser.  The fifth and final shot of that sequence finally got through as Maggie McCafferty made it a 5-2 game in the 36th minute.  The Corsairs, however, remained overpowered by KSC's offense, which put two more on the board in a span of a little over two minutes not long after UMD's tally.  Kalina Piasecki intercepted a UMass-Dartmouth restart and carried into the circle and found Ellie Hunkins, who shoveled the ball off to Baer for her fourth goal in the last six games.  Piasecki then scored in similar fashion barely over two minutes later, finishing off another pass from Hunkins in the circle for a 7-2 advantage.

The teams traded goals in the fourth, with Kirsten Dinsmore's first goal of the season and second of her career rounding out the scoring of the second consecutive 8-3 KSC final between the two sides in the series.

Gorman (7-6) picked up the win after making three stops in 45 minutes.  Molly Edmark played the final quarter.  Trombly saved five of 13 shots, falling to 2-10.

Penalty Strokes

• Stefanakos has 31 goals and 17 assists (79 points) in 37 career games (36 career starts).
• The Owls had a 22-13 advantage in shots and edged UMass-Dartmouth 11-10 in corners.
• Keene State has won five straight in the series, outscoring UMD 39-9 in that span, and is 28-7 against the Corsairs overall.
• KSC is a half-game behind Southern Maine for first place in the league standings, but the top seven remain separated by just two games in the loss column.  As mentioned, the Owls' remaining four games are all against teams from that group.
• The makeup game was one of just three games on the Division III schedule today.

Up Next

• KSC has four games left, all within the conference.  They are at Worcester State University (9-6, 6-2 LEC) on Wednesday, October 19 for a 7:00 p.m. start.  The Owls have lost their last two games at Coughlin Field, including in the 2019 Little East championship game.  Keene won last year's matchup 4-2 at the Owl Athletic Complex.  Worcester has lost consecutive home games this year by a combined 8-2 score to Endicott College and Plymouth State University.
• UMass-Dartmouth continues a season-ending four-game homestand against Bridgewater State University (1-12, 0-8 LEC) on the same night (7:00 p.m.).