GORHAM, Maine – The Keene State College field hockey team scored two goals in 36 seconds at the end of the first half to rapidly erase a two-goal deficit, and then took their first lead of the game with 9:23 left, but the University of Southern Maine had the final say, scoring twice in 4:04 including the game-winner with 25 seconds left as the Huskies pulled out a 5-4 Little East Conference win at Hannaford Field Saturday afternoon.

Records

• Keene State:  7-4, 1-1 LEC
• Southern Maine:  7-5, 1-0 LEC

How It Happened
After scoring one goal or fewer in three of their last four games, the Owls found their offense again.  However, after allowing four goals in a shutout loss at Smith College on Wednesday night, they allowed five more against USM and have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. 

KSC outshot the Huskies 14-4 in the first half, including 8-2 in the second quarter, but actually trailed 2-0 only 15:56 in after a goal from Norie Tibbets in the 12th minute and Sage Drinkwater in the 16th minute.  Tibbets' goal was Southern Maine's first shot on target and only the second total at the time.  By that point, their goalkeeper Eleanor Folsom had made three saves, all coming in the opening 3:51. 

The Owls dominated the second quarter, but actually saw their deficit grow, as Drinkwater blasted a shot from the top of the circle that made its way through for a 2-0 lead in the opening minute.  Keene State then had nine corner chances of their own over the remainder of the second (USM none), and they finally paid off late, as KSC made it 2-1 after Meghan Daileanes corralled an initial that was blocked at the top of the circle and found Kalina Piasecki, who lofted a shot over Folsom with 38.5 seconds left in the first half.  The Owls were not done, as they were awarded a corner chance with 6.3 seconds to go.  Irini Stefanakos took the insert and sent it to Grace Seabury, who moved a few steps to her left and sent a shot through that got through two Southern Maine defenders and went to the right of Folsom to tie the game at two – the second time the Owl first year forward has scored this season with no time left in the first half after also doing so in a 1-0 win at Westfield State on September 19.  Keene State had a 9-1 edge in penalty corners in the second 15 minutes.

After having a wide shots advantage in the first half, the Owls were bottled up after the break, managing only three in the final 30 minutes.  However, two of them went in and it seemed as though despite being outshot 10-3 over the opening 25 minutes of the half, KSC might escape with a league road win.  It did not happen, as the see-saw battle continued.  One minute of game time after the Owls tied the game at the end of the half, Drinkwater scored again – again off a corner from the top of the circle after a stick stop from Jordan Cummings.  USM's lead lasted all of 1:34 before Stefanakos tied it 3-3 from a KSC corner.  She began the chance and sent it to Grace Murphy and the Owls worked it around to the left from there, with Molly Murray finding Stefanakos just steps from the endline.  After mishitting the first ball, she quickly gathered and lasered a shot past Folsom, who had no chance to make the save to her right.

The remainder of the third quarter saw goalies step up to keep it tied.  In the 35th minute, Folsom denied a chance from Grace Bazin.  Then, less than two minutes later, Keene State's Clara Gorman denied Emma Samson.  The Huskies were awarded a penalty stroke with 8:19 to go in the third, but Molly Edmark came in and gobbled up Cummings' try, who was shooting for the lower left corner.  Edmark also stopped Tibbets in the 43rd minute and Drinkwater shot wide with 40 seconds left to send the game 3-3 to the fourth.

Edmark came up big early in the final period, tacking on two more saves, one on Julia Foster and the other on Jenessa Foster.  Those appeared as though they would be big when the Owls took a 4-3 lead with 9:23 left with a fastbreak goal that began with Hannah Wood aggressively nullifying a USM corner almost on her own.  Daileanes jumped on the cleared ball and found Stefanakos charging up the middle of the field.  She had Bazin on her right and the pair blew past USM defenders and were in alone, with Stefanakos passing off to her right once she got into the circle and, with Folsom charging, finding Bazin, who fired into the open net for a 4-3 lead.

As happened most of the day, though, that advantage did not last, either.  In the 56th minute, Brooke Carson tapped home a ball by the far post to make it 4-4 after USM had their try off the corner blocked, but KSC could not clear it.  Southern Maine pushed from there, with Edmark stopping Foster and Mary Keef eight seconds apart in the 57th minute.  Another goal from a corner sealed the Owls' fate on the day, as with 30.7 seconds left, Hannah Banks inserted a pass to Keef, who's ball in was deflected to the right by Drinkwater for the game-winner with 25 seconds left.  Overall, KSC did not have a shot following their goal that made it 4-3, and that wound up being their only shot in the final 25:25 of game action.

"It's typically a close matchup when we face USM," said Keene State head coach Amy Watson.  "It was a back-and-forth offensive batle.  They were very strong with their offensive corners...unfortunately we gave them too many of those chances."

Gorman made two saves in 36:41 for KSC, while Edmark stopped seven in 23:19.  Folsom finished with nine saves in the win for USM.

Penalty Strokes

• KSC is 31-7 all-time against Southern Maine, but now 2-4 in the last six matchups, losing four one-goal games at Hannaford Field since 2019.
• 18 of the Owls' 34 goals this season (53 percent) have come from either transfers (Bazin) or newcomers that were not on last season's roster.
• Each team had 17 shots in the game; Southern Maine had 14 on goal and Keene State 13. 
• Keene State had a 15-11 edge in penalty corners, with 12 coming in the first half.  10 of USM's 11 came in the second half.

Up Next

• KSC ends a stretch of five consecutive road games at Western New England University (9-1, 1-1 CCC) on Wednesday, October 4 at 6:30 p.m.  The Golden Bears' season-opening nine game winning streak ended with a 4-0 loss at Roger Williams University today.  It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2013, a 7-0 win for KSC.  The Owls have won 10 of 11 all-time matchups.
• Southern Maine, which entered the game having lost three straight and scoring only two goals combined, is at Worcester State University (5-5, 4-0 MASCAC) on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.