NEW LONDON, N.H. –
Maggie Cahoon and
Molly Murray both scored in unique ways in the final 20 minutes, the latter on a penalty stroke, as the Keene State College field hockey team broke a hex in one-goal games by rallying for a 2-1 victory over Colby-Sawyer College in non-conference action Wednesday afternoon at Sally Shaw Veitch Track & Field.
Records
- Keene State: 1-1
- Colby-Sawyer: 1-1
How It Happened
After suffering a tough 5-4 overtime loss at home to the Chargers a year ago in a game that saw KSC lead 3-0 and 4-3, and overall losing eight of their last nine games that were decided by one goal, the Owls began to flip the script as they picked up their first win of 2022 and beat Colby-Sawyer (17-4 in 2021 and the Great Northeast Athletic Conference regular season champions) for the fifth time in six tries in the all-time series. It did not seem as though that might be the case early, as CSC leader Aoife Daly found the back of the cage just 5:49 in, scoring against KSC for the fourth time in the last two games. The tally came as a result of the Owls turning the ball over in their half of the field, with Aleah Murph intercepting a pass and feeding Calie Sorenson with plenty of time and space inside the circle to the right of KSC goalkeeper
Clara Gorman. Sorenson's try was deflected away and went wide, but Taylor Gaudette corralled the rebound and found Daly in front of the cage who did not miss.
Colby-Sawyer maintained their 1-0 edge for quite a while, and Keene State found their opportunities in close to be significantly limited in the opening half, as their two shots on target – one by Cahoon in the seventh minute and one by
Irini Stefanakos in her season debut in the 21st minute – were both stopped by Lauren Wilkinson in the Chargers' cage.
Wilkinson's workload would increase substantially after halftime as KSC found their offensive legs following just a four-shot first half, finishing with 11 in the final 30 minutes including seven in the third quarter. The Owls put three shots on target over a five minute span, as Wilkinson stopped
Julia Baer, Stefanakos, and Cahoon to keep her team ahead 1-0 – at least for a few more seconds before Cahoon followed up a rebound of her own shot by batting the ball out of the air and into the cage 11 seconds after initiating a corner to tie the game at one at the 41:14 mark. Gorman stopped Daly less than two minutes later to preserve the tie, and Courtney Larson did the same with a defensive save in the 44th minute off
Hailey Patridge's shot. Patridge was bidding for a second consecutive game with a goal after she scored KSC's lone tally in a 2-1 loss in the season opener Saturday.
Keene State continued to carry the play in the fourth, earning three corner chances in 22 seconds in the 52nd minute, the last of which resulted in a strange sequence where Baer's shot off a strong feed from
Lauren Hausser wound up bouncing and hitting Jordan Pollard's face, resulting in a penalty stroke call. As the Owls did a year ago, they called upon
Molly Murray and she did not miss, rifling a shot past the stick side of Wilkinson for a 2-1 lead with 8:16 left. That proved to be the game-decider, as Gorman made one more stop on Sorenson in the 57th minute before KSC wasted away the rest of the clock, denying Colby-Sawyer any other threats.
Gorman (1-1) made three stops to pick up her first career victory in the Owls' cage, while Wilkinson saved seven.
Penalty Strokes
- Keene State had a 15-13 edge in shots, 10-4 in shots on goal.
- Murray is 3-for-5 on penalty strokes in her career.
- Cahoon has 11 goals over her last 25 games and has seven shot attempts in two games this season.
Up Next
- KSC had their conference opener against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth moved from this Saturday, September 10 to Monday, October 17 at 4:00 p.m. The Owls will next be in action on Tuesday, September 13 when they travel to take on preseason-No. 11 Amherst College at 6:30 p.m.
- Colby-Sawyer has a GNAC game at the University of St. Joseph (Conn.) on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
