PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla.— The Keene State College women's lacrosse team took on Framingham State University at Publix Sports Park on Wednesday afternoon for their first of two spring break games in Florida. After the Rams responded to the Owls' early pair of goals to open the first quarter with five consecutive goals of their own, they never looked back, as FSU took down KSC, 15-9.

Records

• Keene State: 4-2
• Framingham State: 6-2

How it Happened


Just as the previous five games to open the season have started for the Owls, they struck first, as Riley Devine assisted Haile Ratajack for the opening goal, 1:46 into the contest. They added another goal at the 11:53 mark, as Haile Ratajack caused a turnover in the defensive zone of the Owls', which eventually led to Mindy St. Marie assisting on Hayden Smith's sixth goal in as many games to start her career with KSC. Over the next 2:44 of play, the Rams won the draw control five times, which resulted in them scoring five consecutive goals, including a pair of goals 13 seconds apart and 11 seconds apart, as FSU jumped out to a 5-2 lead. Hannah Guerin (one free position goal) and Molly Lanier each scored a pair of goals, while Leah Green scored the other of the five in a row for the Rams. With 8:18 left in the first, Tess Brown caused a turnover on an FSU clear attempt, collected the ground ball, and scored, pulling the Owls to within a pair. Unfortunately for the Owls, the two-goal deficit following Brown's goal would be the smallest deficit the remainder of the game, as the Rams continued to score the rest of the quarter; Green scored two more goals (one free position and one man-up) and Alessia Lye scored another, to put FSU up 8-3 over the Owls heading into the second.
 
Sarah Howe appeared in net for her first time of the season to start the second quarter for the Owls and she made a save on her first shot faced, but Guerin snuck a shot past her on the next attempt for the Rams, giving FSU a 9-3 lead with 11:43 remaining in the opening half. Guerin's goal wound up being the only goal for FSU in the second quarter, as KSC scored the next two goals. The Owls were awarded four free position attempts over a 13-second span and Chase Gengras capitalized on the fourth opportunity for the Owls as she scored to cut the Rams' lead to five with 8:51 in the second quarter. St. Marie tallied her first goal of the day, 4:07 later, as Hannah Dworkin picked up the assist in her first game of the 2024 season, after leading the Little East Conference with 44 assists across the 2023 season. FSU was unable to increase their lead the remainder of the opening half, largely due to Howe making three saves over the final 4:44, which includes one free position shot saved, and limiting the lead to 9-5 for the Rams.
 
Lanier opened the scoring in the second half, as she netted a free position goal 1:41 into the third, pushing the Rams' lead back to five. Gengras and Brown each picked up their second point of the contest with 7:54 remaining in the quarter, as Brown assisted Gengras for the Owls' sixth goal of the day. After Howe made another save on a free position shot on Rachel Erickson, Guerin sent a shot past her on the Rams' next free position shot, with 4:18 left in the third. Howe made another save, coming on Green, two minutes later, which led to Brown scoring a free position goal for KSC, 50 seconds after Howe's save. FSU increased their lead back to five thanks to a goal from Erickson with 25 seconds left in the quarter. Erickson won the ensuing draw control for FSU, which led to Guerin assisting Green on another goal for the Rams, just 15 seconds after their last, to make the score 13-7 heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
 
The Owls got on the board first in the fourth, as Ratajack caused a turnover on an FSU clear attempt, which led to her scoring a goal, from Brown shortly after, to open the scoring with 11:28 remaining in the contest. The Rams answered right back with a goal of their own, 24 seconds later, as Guerin tallied her fifth goal of the day. Over the next 6:14, both Howe and FSU goalkeeper, Isabella DiMare, each made three saves in net, until Guerin was able to finally get a shot past Howe, for her eighth point of the day, with 4:50 remaining. St. Marie netted the final goal of the game, a man-up goal for the Owls with 57 seconds left, for her 18th goal of the season, bringing the final score to 15-9 for Framingham State.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the loss, the Owls fall to 0-2 in the two meetings between the two schools, as they previously lost 21-11 to the Rams on March 19, 2021, at FSU.
• Brown led KSC in points for the fourth time out of the six games so far in the Owls' season, as she logged four points from two goals and two assists in the contest.
• Brown also logged a game-high of six caused turnovers, as it is her fourth time that she has led all participants in caused turnovers in a game in the season. Coming into the game, she sat in first place in all of NCAA Division III women's lacrosse with an average of 6.60 caused turnovers per game, while Ratajack placed third, with an average of 5.60.
• Hayden Smith continued to be extremely consistent with her shot attempts for the Owls, as the freshman has only taken one shot attempt, which resulted in a goal, in five out of six games, with the other game resulting in one goal from three shots.
• Howe made a collegiate career-high of 11 saves throughout the rest of the game after entering at the beginning of the second, coming from 18 shots faced in her first action seen on the year, and resulting in a .611 SV%. DiMare also made 11 saves in net for the Rams, for a .550 SV%.
• The eight goals scored by the Rams in the first quarter are the most allowed by the Owls in a single quarter in nearly a calendar year, as the last time it happened was also in the first quarter of the Owls' 21-4 loss to Wheaton College (Mass.) on March 22, 2023.
• Guerin's eight points (six goals and two assists) are the most the Owls have allowed to an opposing player so far through the start of the season.

 
Up Next

Keene State will next play in their second, and final game, on their spring break trip down in Panama City Beach, Fla. as they will take on Worcester State University on Thursday, March 21, at 11:00 AM ET / 10:00 AM CT.
Framingham State returns home for their next contest on March 26, at 4:30 PM, for their first out of six consecutive home games, as they will host another Little East Conference opponent, as Eastern Connecticut State University takes on the Rams.