SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Western New England University sophomore midfielder Haley Kaczka converted a pair of penalty strokes in the fourth quarter to snap what had been a scoreless tie up until that point as the Golden Bears went on to a 2-0 victory over the Keene State College field hockey team Wednesday night at Golden Bear Stadium.

Records

• Keene State:  7-5
• Western New England:  10-1

How It Happened
The Owls will return home after a tough ending to a string of five consecutive road games, getting shut out twice in the final three games and dropping a 5-4 league decision in the other.  Tonight, in the first meeting between KSC and WNE in 10 years, Keene State could not solve Golden Bears goalkeeper Ella Henry, who made eight saves, and tumbled to a loss after allowing a pair of penalty strokes in a fourth quarter, the first of which came at the 52:37 mark.  Keene State goalkeeper Clara Gorman had stopped Kaczka in the minute prior as well as Analise Trani seconds before, but Kaczka made her second stroke of the season, beating Molly Edmark to her left for a 1-0 lead.  Edmark, who enters to face penalty strokes, and the Owls had stopped both against them entering the night, including one in the last game at the University of Southern Maine to keep it a 3-3 tie.  Now facing a deficit for the first time, Keene State could not muster much offensively, not recording their next shot until the final seconds when Henry saved a shot from Grace Bazin that would have only cosmetically changed the final.  That would have been the case because Western New England was awarded another penalty stroke less than five minutes after the first one, and again made it, with Kaczka shooting to her left and Edmark's right this time.  Edmark guessed correctly, but the ball slid under her dive and the Owls were down 2-0 with 2:37 left.

Keene State controlled the middle two periods in the scoreless game, outshooting the Golden Bears 8-4 after a shotless first period, but could not break through.  Three penalty corner chances in 25 seconds amounted to nothing with about 10 minutes to go until the break, and Irini Stefanakos was then denied by Henry in the 22nd minute.  The WNE keeper then made three important saves with a little less than four minutes to go until halftime, denying Kalina Piasecki twice in seconds at 26:01 and 26:04, and then a bid from Grace Seabury at 26:43.  Gorman made a pair of saves of her own in the second quarter to keep it a scoreless game.

Early in the second half, KSC again searched for a goal to jump in front, but a shot from Meghan Daileanes was blocked 2:11 in, and Bazin's try was saved by Henry 20 seconds later.  Western New England could not manage any supremely threatening chances of their own in the third quarter, but the Owls' offense could not capitalize and eventually faded down the stretch, with Piasecki's shot at the 42:25 mark again getting snuffed out by Henry.  Stefanakos' shot 1:19 into the final quarter proved to be KSC's last of the game.

It was a slow offensive start for both teams on the night, combining for just one shot in the first quarter, a rifled shot from Trani off a Golden Bears corner 2:21 into the game that went wide.  The next shot after that did not come until the 18th minute when Piasecki shot wide.  She had four shots on the night while Stefanakos and Bazin had two each.

"It was another evenly matched game where we came up short," said Keene State head coach Amy Watson.  "I thought we played fairly well but just could not find the back of the net tonight."

Henry got the win and shutout for WNE while making the eight saves as the Golden Bears rebounded from a 4-0 loss, their first of the season, on Saturday at Roger Williams University in which they were outshot 24-3.  Western New England improved to 7-0 at home.

Gorman made six saves in the KSC cage and did not allow a goal.

Penalty Strokes

• KSC is 3-3 when scoring two goals or fewer this season.
• The Owls are 13-15 in their last 28 road games, 5-3 in 2023.
• Keene State leads the all-time series 10-2 and had won the previous eight meetings, scoring 25 goals in the last three.
• Western New England had an 11-10 edge in shots and KSC a 9-8 edge in penalty corners.

Up Next

• The Owls return home to host LEC in-state rival Plymouth State University (6-2, 1-0 LEC) on Friday, October 6 at 6:00 p.m.  The game was originally scheduled for Saturday at noon but was moved up due to heavy rain in the weather forecast.
• Western New England visits the University of New England (3-8, 1-0 CCC) for a CCC matchup on Saturday (October 7) at 1:00 p.m.  UNE has dropped matchups to five nationally-ranked teams thus far on the season.