KEENE, N.H. –
Kalina Piasecki found
Irini Stefanakos in the 15th minute for the tying goal and then the two connected in reverse 3:25 after halftime for what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal as the Keene State College field hockey team stifled Eastern Connecticut State University 3-1 in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Records
- Keene State: 2-2, 1-0 LEC
- Eastern Connecticut: 2-3, 0-2 LEC
Postgame Interview (Coach Watson)
Postgame Interview (Irini Stefanakos)
How It Happened
Playing each other for the first time since last year's Little East Conference tournament championship game – a 1-0 upset win for the Warriors – the Owls allowed the opening goal before scoring three unanswered as they rolled to their first home win in their first conference game of 2022. KSC held Eastern Connecticut's offense to just six shots and gave them only two corner chances in the game as both teams continue to alternate wins and losses in the early going of the season.
ECSU struck first late in the opening quarter as, after the Owls could not clear the ball from just outside the top of the circle, Emma Sanson knicked a feed past KSC keeper
Clara Gorman for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. Last November, one early goal proved to be enough for the Warriors as despite being thoroughly out-chanced, they won their first Little East tournament championship in program history. Today, their lead was gone 3:34 later, before the quarter ended. The Warriors could not clear their zone in the final minute as Stefanakos forced a turnover, carried into the circle and fed Piasecki, who deked Warriors' goalkeeper Sarah Gallagher with a spinning backaround pass, freeing Stefanakos for what amounted to tip-in goal.
After a quiet second quarter led to a 1-1 game at the break, Keene State was all over Eastern Connecticut out of the locker room, getting five penalty corner chances (of their seven in the third) in the opening 2:15. They could not score on any of them, and then Gorman had to make a stop on Kaylee Drobish to keep it tied, but KSC's early pressure paid off eventually as Stefanakos danced around Aly Kendrick and was free into the circle with plenty of space, sliding a pass to the right of an aggressive Gallagher and to Piasecki, who was there to put in her first career goal for a 2-1 lead.
Each goalkeeper made a stop to keep it that same score entering the fourth, and it was the Warriors who briefly had the better of the chances looking to tie, but
Lauren Hausser kept out Kaylee Drobish's bid and Gorman denied Angelina Falleni with about 10 minutes to go. Gallagher tacked on three of her seven saves – two on Stefanakos – over a five minute span later in the fourth to still keep it 2-1, but after the early flurry in the period, the Warriors were held shotless the rest of the way.
Molly Murray salted the game away with her second penalty stroke goal of the season with 1:19 to go.
Gorman (2-2) made four stops to earn the win for KSC. Gallagher (2-3) took the loss. She has allowed only eight goals in five games, but ECSU offensively has been limited to one goal in three of their five games.
Penalty Strokes
- Stefanakos' goal and assist where her first of each this season (three games) after she had 21 and 10, respectively, a year ago.
- Murray is 4-for-6 on penalty strokes in over her two-year career (2-for-2 this season).
- Piasecki's career-first marker was the first for the Owls as a team this season.
- KSC snapped a three-game slide in the series with the Warriors, one they lead 24-5 including a 14-2 mark at Owl Athletic Complex.
Up Next
- Keene State remains home to host New England College (5-1) on Wednesday, September 21 at 6:30 p.m.
- Eastern Connecticut, who had won 5-0 at Springfield College in their last outing, entertains Roger Williams University (4-1) on the same day at 4:30 p.m.
