GORHAM, Maine – Senior midfielder Haile Ratajack and freshman midfielder Tess Brown both scored three goals, but it was not enough as the Keene State College women's lacrosse team fell to the University of Southern Maine 13-9 Saturday at Hannaford Field.
 
Records

• Keene State: 5-10, 2-3 LEC
• Southern Maine: 8-7, 4-1 LEC

 
How it Happened
 
In a low-scoring first quarter, Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead on a goal by junior midfielder Paige Rinaldi at 11:30. After trailing for a few minutes, the Owls tied the game on a tally by senior midfielder Mindy St. Marie at 6:22. Sophomore attacker Chase Gengras then put KSC ahead 2-1 at 4:07.
 
Up 2-1 in the second quarter, the Owls added on to their lead with goals by St. Marie and Brown. After that, the Huskies took over.
 
Southern Maine scored the next 10 goals between the second and fourth quarters. After a goal by junior midfielder Kiaya Gatchell, freshman midfielder Cierra Hill scored the next three, including one with USM up a player. Graduate attacker Rachel Shanks, who ranks second in the LEC in goals with 56, scored three of the next six. The other three came from sophomore midfielder Julia McKenna. Two of the goals came with the Huskies up a player.
 
Down 11-4 with 11:59 left in the fourth quarter, the Owls began making a comeback. Brown scored two straight goals, both of which were assisted by junior attacker Hannah Dworkin, to cut the deficit to 11-6. After Shanks scored again with her team down a player, Ratajack scored twice in less than a minute to make it 12-8 Southern Maine with 2:35 remaining. But Shanks would put the game out of reach with her game-high fifth goal of the game at 1:32. Ratajack would quickly score again at 1:10, but the comeback would fall short for the Owls.
 
Inside the Crease

• Keene State has an all-time record of 24-8 against Southern Maine. The Owls had won 10 of their last 11 games against Huskies heading into Saturday's game.
• St. Marie won 10 of the Owls' 13 draw controls on Saturday, the most in the game. She is tied for seventh in the LEC in both draw controls (59) and draw controls per game (3.93).
• Brown collected a game-high five ground balls, while causing two turnovers. She is tied for third in the LEC in ground balls (51) and is fifth in ground balls per game (3.40).
• After causing a game-high four turnovers on Saturday, Ratajack now leads the LEC in caused turnovers per game at 3.50. She is also tied for first in the league in caused turnovers with 42. Brown, meanwhile, ranks third in both categories with 38 caused turnovers and 2.53 caused turnovers per game.

 
Up Next
Keene State begins its final week of the regular season with a game at UMass-Dartmouth on Wednesday, April 26 at 6 p.m. The Owls must win one of their last two games to guarantee themselves a spot in the LEC Tournament. Southern Maine, who is in the hunt for the top seed in the conference tournament, hosts Rhode Island College on Wednesday at 6 p.m.