Box Score

KEENE, N.H.—Fifth years Mindy St. Marie and Haile Ratajack and sophomore Tess Brown combined for 12 goals as the Keene State College women's lacrosse team continued their perfect start to the season with an 18-10 win over the University of Hartford at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Records

• Keene State: 2-0
• Hartford: 0-1

Postgame Interview (Coach Wyant)
Postgame Interview (Haile Ratajack)

How It Happened
Keene State dominated the first quarter of play, outscoring the Hawks, 4-1. Mabelle Bessette kept the game scoreless in first few minutes of the contest, as she made a pair of saves in the net for the Owls. KSC opened the scoring by netting a man-up and man-down goal, as Haile Ratajack assisted Mindy St. Marie for a man-up goal, 5:50 into the game, and Ratajack scored a man-down goal from Lola Smith, with 4:24 left in the opening quarter. Hartford pulled within one, after Bessette made another save, Laurei McIntosh netted a goal for the Hawks, with 2:15 left in the quarter. In the final 83 seconds of the quarter, the Owls netted another pair of goals, with Ratajack picking up another assist on a man-up goal from Smith, followed by a goal from St. Marie in the final minute to round out the scoring in the first.
 
After McIntosh scored for the Hawks to open the scoring in the second, two minutes in, KSC responded with six goals over the next six and a half minutes. Shortly after Smith assisted Ratajack on the first of the six, St. Marie scored a man-up goal, for the second, just 36 seconds later. After Brown won the ensuing draw control, she picked up an assist as she set up Smith for a goal, just nine seconds after St. Marie's. Two and a half minutes later, Brown scored another goal, then won the ensuing draw control and soon after, assisted Ratajack for the team's fifth goal in a row. With 6:33 left in the half, Lola Smith went around the crease with the ball, and passed the ball to her sister, Hayden Smith, who was cutting towards the goal; Hayden received the pass and buried a shot into the back of the net to put KSC up 10-2. Hartford finally stopped the Owls momentum as Katie Graham scored a free-position goal for the Hawks a minute later, but shortly after, KSC tallied another goal, with Ratajack picking up another assist, setting up St. Marie for the man-down goal with 3:54 left in the half. The Hawks scored the final two goals of the half, as Sara Costa scored a man-up free-position goal, followed by Talei Ricketson scoring a free-position goal, bringing the score to 11-5 for KSC at the half.
 
The third quarter ended up being the lowest scoring quarter of the contest, as both teams combined for four goals over the 15 minutes of play. Keene State opened the quarter with their man-up advantage from the second and capitalized on it, as Brown tallied another point by assisting Riley Devine for the man-up goal, just 14 seconds into the half. After Bessette made a pair of saves in the net (including one on a free-position shot), Madison Olmstead was finally able to get a shot past her, for a man-up goal for Hartford, with 10 minutes left in the quarter. Over the next seven minutes, Bessette made two more saves in net, both being on free-position shots, before Olmstead was able to assist Lenaijah Ferguson for a man-up goal for the Hawks. St. Marie netted the final goal of the quarter with 1:14 remaining on a free-position goal, which brought the score to 13-7 for KSC after three.
 
Both teams combined for five goals in as many minutes to start the final quarter. Brown netted a man-up goal for KSC to open the scoring, coming from Lola Smith, but Ricketson answered back with a goal for the Hawks nearly a minute later. 25 seconds later, Brown scored a man-up goal again for the Owls, bringing the score to 15-8 for KSC. Hartford answered back with a pair of goals, with McIntosh picking up the free-position goal and Ferguson accounting for the other. Hawk goalie, Hannah Ramsey made three saves in net over the next five minutes, but she was unable to make it four, as Brown sent a shot past her, after causing a turnover on defense for the Owls on the other end of the field. The last two goals of the contest came from the Owls, as Brown assisted Devine for the 17th goal, and Lola Smith picked up her third goal in the final minute, to give the Owls an 18-10 win on the day.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the win, the Owls improve to 2-0 in the all-time against the Hawks, with a combined score of 36-23.
• Brown once again led the Owls on attack, tallying a game-high of eight points, coming from four goals and four assists. Over the two games to start the year, Brown now has 18 points, coming from 12 goals and six assists.
• Lola Smith, Ratajack, and St. Marie, were also large contributors to the Owls attack; Smith tallied seven points (three goals and four assists), while Ratajack tallied six points (three goals and three assists), and St. Marie netted five goals for her five points.
• Ratajack's six points on the day moved her into sixth place for most points in program history with 212, passing Colleen Murphy '06 (207 points).
• One game after her teammate, Ratajack, set the single game caused turnover record for KSC with 13 against UNE, Brown tied it, by causing 13 turnovers by the Hawks in the win.
• Keene State won more draw controls, as they had 18 to the Hawks' 13, and were more efficient on their free-position attempts, going 1-2, compared to 4-13 from Hartford.
• The KSC women's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2010.

 
Up Next

Keene State hits the road for their first away game of 2024 in their next contest, as they will travel down to Springfield, Mass. to take on Western New England University on Thursday, March 7, at 4:00 PM.
Hartford will look for their first win of the 2024 season in their next game, where they will travel to take on Western Connecticut State University on Wednesday, March 6, at 4 PM.