BIDDEFORD, Maine – Despite a season-high seven goals from senior midfielder Haile Ratajack, the Keene State College women's lacrosse team was defeated by the University of New England 17-14 Saturday at Blue Bolt Field.
 
Records

• Keene State: 1-6
• University of New England: 6-2

 
How it Happened
Sophomore attacker Morgan White began the scoring for UNE with an unassisted goal at 13:31 in the first quarter. Just over a minute later, KSC senior midfielder Mindy St. Marie responded with her first goal of the game at 12:08 to tie the game at one. This would foreshadow an offensive battle between the two teams throughout the rest of the day.
 
Junior attacker Kelsey Hartigan then set up both junior midfielder Abby McHallam and White with a goal each 48 seconds apart at 10:52 and 10:04 to put UNE ahead 3-1. The Owls fought back with the help of junior attacker Hannah Dworkin, who scored her first goal of the season at 9:38. After UNE got another goal from first-year midfielder Micaela Jacobs, Dworkin added her second goal of the game to make it 4-3 at 4:54. Shortly after, Ratajack began finding the back of the net.
 
Just 37 seconds after Dworkin's goal, Ratajack scored her first tally of the day at 4:17 to tie the game at four. St. Marie scored her second goal of the game at 3:39 to give Keene State its first lead of the day at 3:39, Ratajack quickly scored again at 3:18 to extend the Owls' lead to 6-4. Ratajack then got her third goal of the game at 2:16, while the Nor'easters added two more goals. After a high-scoring first quarter from both teams, Keene State entered the second up 7-6.
 
The Owls built their lead from there. First, senior attacker Jackie DeAngelis scored her first goal of the game with her team up a player at 14:33. Ratajack followed that up with her fourth goal of the day at 13:14, with Dworkin having assisted on both goals. St. Marie then scored her third goal of the game after a strike by the Nor'easters, bringing the score to 10-7 Owls with 9:51 remaining in the half. UNE would get two more goals during the frame, but Keene State would enter halftime up 10-9.
 
UNE would carry its momentum into the third quarter, as goals by Hartigan and White gave the Nor'easters an 11-10 lead. Sophomore midfielder Amethyst Phelps got the Owls back in it, however as her goal with her team up a player tied the game at 11 with 6:01 remaining. White would go on to score her fifth goal of the game at the 1:30 mark, putting the Owls down 12-11 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The final quarter is when UNE began to pull away. Sophomore midfielder Paige DeVries scored first when the Nor'easters were down one player at 13:07. Jacobs scored at 12:32 to extend UNE's lead to 14-11. Ratajack tried to lead a comeback for the Owls by scoring three goals in the quarter. But Keene State was unable to catch UNE, who scored three more goals to win its second straight game.
 
Inside the Crease

• This was only the third time these programs have ever met, with the last meeting happening on April 16, 2000.
• After missing the first three games of the season, Ratajack now leads the Owls in goals with 15. Her seven goals were the most scored by a KSC player in a game this season.
• Dworkin finished the game with four assists, the most from a KSC player in a game this year. She leads the team in that category with 11.
• The KSC offense set season-high marks in total goals scored (14), goals scored in a quarter (7 in the first), assists (8) and shots on goal (24).
• Keene State's 14 goals are the most they have scored in a game since May 3, 2022, when the Owls defeated UMass-Dartmouth 15-2 in the quarterfinals of the Little East Conference Championship Tournament.

 
Up Next
The Owls will play at Amherst College on Tuesday, March 28 at 6 p.m. UNE hosts Curry College for its first Commonwealth Coast Conference game of the season on Wednesday, March 29 at 4 p.m.