KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State women's lacrosse team kicked off their 2024 season by hosting the Nor'easters of the University of New England on Friday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex. After a close first half, the Owls pulled away and outscored the Nor'easters 11-2 in the second half, as KSC kicked off their 2024 season with a 19-8 win at home, thanks to 10 points (eight goals and two assists) from Tess Brown

Records

• Keene State: 1-0
• University of New England: 0-1

Postgame Interview (Coach Wyant)
Postgame Interview (Tess Brown)

How It Happened
Keene State got on the board first with Brown scoring her first of many goals that she would net throughout the game, just 1:48 into the contest. After Brown's goal, UNE answered with a pair of their own goals, both being man-up opportunities, as Abby McHallam assisted Sydney Balotin on the tying goal and Molly Henderson netted the second, giving UNE a 2-1 lead with 4:11 in the first. KSC answered the pair of Nor'easter goals with a pair of their own before the quarter ended, with Brown netting her second of the game, this time being a free-position and man-up goal, followed by a free-position goal from Mindy St. Marie, giving the Owls a 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
After St. Marie netted the scoring in the second quarter with a man-up goal coming from Haile Ratajack, with 11:42 left in the half, UNE responded with three consecutive man-up goals in 45 seconds, shortly after, as three different scorers put UNE back ahead of KSC. Balotin's free-position goal, Nicole DePodesta's goal from Henderson, and Paige DeVries goal from Emily Jacobs gave UNE a 5-4 lead with 10:12 remaining in the half. Two minutes later KSC bounced right back, with a pair of goals in 27 seconds, with the first goal coming from Chase Gengras finding Ratajack cutting towards the net, who fired the shot past UNE goalkeeper, Jenna Trafford, tying the game up at five apiece. KSC's next goal came from the same duo, except reversed, as Ratajack assisted Gengras on a man-up goal to give the Owls a 6-5 lead. With 4:12 left in the half, UNE evened the game out at six apiece, as DePodesta scored a man-down goal from Barrie Guertin on what would be UNE's final goal of the opening half. In the final 1:27 of the half, KSC scored a pair of goals to go up 8-6 heading into halftime as Brown netted goal number seven for the Owls, followed by St. Marie winning the ensuing draw, that led to Gengras scoring a man-up free-position goal shortly after.
 
Both teams traded a goal in the opening three minutes of the third quarter, as Lola Smith got on the board for the Owls, followed by Nor'easter goal as Emma Collingwood pulled UNE back within a pair, with 12:12 left in the quarter. KSC went on to score four unanswered goals through the rest of the quarter, all of which came from four different scorers. Goals 10 and 11 came from Ratajack (assisted by Brown) and St. Marie, respectively. Trafford made three saves in net before the Owls were able to score their twelfth goal, which came on a free-position shot from Brown. The final goal of the quarter came after another pair of saves from Trafford, as Gengras was able to find Hayden Smith who buried the shot past Trafford, giving the Owls a 13-7 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
 
The Nor'easters opened the scoring 1:39 into the fourth quarter, with Kimmy Staniar assisting Henderson for a man-up goal, on what would be the only goal for UNE in the final quarter, as the Owls would control the rest of the quarter, netting six unanswered goals. In the next 2:50 following Henderson's goal, KSC won the draw control the ensuing three times, which led to Tess Brown scoring three goals for the Owls; the first being a free-position goal, the second being assisted by Smith, and the third being an SC Top10 worthy play as she weaved through and around four defenders before sending the shot past Trafford for her eighth goal on the day. Following a save in net by KSC goalie Mabelle Bessette, the Owls scored their final three goals in the last four minutes of the contest. Goals 17 and 18 both came from Ratajack and were assisted by St. Marie and Brown, respectively. In the closing seconds, Alexis Phyllides assisted St. Marie on a goal with just seven seconds left, giving the Owls the 19-8 win.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the win, KSC avenged their 17-14 loss to the Nor'easters last season and picked up their first win in program history to UNE after losing the previous three meetings by a combined score of 46-25.
• Brown led the way with 10 points, outscoring UNE herself, coming from eight goals and a pair of assists. The last Owl to reach 10 points and eight goals in a game was teammate Hailey Ratajack against Hartford less than a year ago (4/11/23).
• Ratajack also logged six points in the game, tallying four goals and a pair of assists to go with her game-high of 11 caused turnovers.
• KSC went 5-6 on free position attempts, while UNE went 1-3 on the day.
• Travis Wyant, the Keene State women's lacrosse coach, picked up his first victory in his first game as head coach, after having the interim title lifted in May.

 
Up Next


Keene State opens the season with three consecutive home games, as their next game will be the second of the three and come against Fitchburg State on Thursday, February 29, at 4:00 PM.
UNE will next play against another LEC opponent for their next contest, as they will travel and take on Southern Maine on Tuesday, February 27, at 4:00 PM.