KEENE, N.H. — The Keene State College women's lacrosse team hosted Plymouth State University on Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex in the Little East Conference Tournament Championship game, as the Owls looked to avenge their 16-14 loss to the Panthers earlier in the regular season. Unfortunately for the Owls, they were unable to do so, as PSU outscored KSC, 8-2 in the second half, on their way to a 15-6 win over the Owls.

Records

• Keene State: 12-6 (5-2 LEC)
• Plymouth State: 13-6 (5-2 LEC)

Postgame Interview (Travis Wyant)

How It Happened
Both teams scored a pair of goals very early in the contest, as Maddie Hunt scored the first goal for the Panthers, 55 seconds in, and then Mindy St. Marie tied the contest up at one, 47 seconds later. PSU answered with a pair of goals right after St. Marie's goal, as Elle Moshier scored a free position goal, followed by Hunt's second of the game, to put PSU up with 10:52 remaining in the first quarter. The scoring continued early in the quarter, as Tess Brown assisted Hannah Dworkin on a man-up goal, 37 seconds after Hunt's, but just 27 seconds after Dworkin's, Moshier responded right back for the Panthers. The Owls' goalkeeper, Mabelle Bessette made her 100th career save shortly after, on a free position shot on Julia Donovan, along with two more saves in net (along with another free position save) to shut out the Panthers the rest of the quarter. KSC was able to score the final goal of the quarter, as Dworkin picked up her first assist of the game, on Ratajack's record setting 71st goal of the season, which is the most in a single season for an Owl, to pull KSC within a goal heading into the second quarter. 
 
Jenna Stowell capitalized on a green card against Lola Smith of KSC at the end of the first quarter, as she scored a man-up, free position goal, just 11 seconds into the second quarter. The Panthers' goalkeeper, Margie Black, made a pair of saves on the Owls' first two shot attempts of the quarter, but she was unable to make a save on the third, as St. Marie found fellow fifth year, Ratajack, for the man-down goal, to pull KSC within a goal with 8:05 remaining in the first half. 11 seconds after Ratajack's man-down goal, PSU capitalized on their man-up opportunity, as Stowell scored her second of the quarter to put PSU back up by a pair. Following a save by each goalkeeper over the next few minutes, Donovan was able to score her first of the game, to put PSU up 7-4 with 4:46 remaining. Donovan's goal ended up being the final of the quarter, as Ratajack tallied another goal with 3:03 remaining in the half but had it waved off after the refs assessed her a yellow card and deemed the shot "dangerous" by some means. This dealt a huge blow to the Owls, as they lost one of their best players on the field on both ends, as Ratajack is the all-time leading goal scorer for KSC and all-time leader in caused turnovers for the Owls and would not be able to play the remainder of the contest, as PSU took their 7-4 lead into halftime.
 
The Panthers opened the third quarter with four consecutive goals, as they jumped out to a 11-4 lead over the Owls, six minutes and change into the quarter. After Hunt opened the scoring in the 25 seconds into the second half for the Panthers, the Owls had a shot ring off of both the pipe and crossbar, which kept the ball out of the net, and led to Moshier picking up a man-up goal for the Panthers. After Stowell won the ensuing draw control once again for the Panthers, which she did nine times throughout the game, Tarryn O'Brien netted a free position goal for the Panthers, 1:05 after Moshier's goal. Donovan netted her second goal of the game with 8:42 remaining in the quarter, which increased the Panthers' lead to seven over KSC. KSC was able to put an end to the Panthers' scoring streak as Dworkin picked up the assist on Hayden Smith's goal for the Owls with 5:15 remaining in the quarter. The final goal of the quarter came just 44 seconds later, this time from the Panthers again, as Megan Gaspa scored for PSU to make the score 12-5 for PSU heading into the final quarter.
 
For the first time in the quarter, the Owls opened the scoring in the final quarter, as following a save by Bessette, Dworkin assisted Gengras for a goal. Dworkin's assist was number 104 of her career, as she moved into second place all-time for assists in a career for an Owl. The Owls tried to mount a comeback attempt through the remainder of the quarter, but Black continued to shut the Owls down, as she made three saves, including a pair of free position goals, over the next 6:41, before PSU was able to score next, on a goal from Amelia Thomas. The Panthers added another goal, to increase the score to 14-6, 43 seconds later, on a goal from Hunt again for PSU. Unfortunately for the Owls, they would not be able to get even a shot attempt off the remainder of the quarter, as Hunt added one more goal on for the Panthers, as they won the LEC Championship, 15-6 over the Owls.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the loss, the Owls fall to 10-33 in the all-time series between the two schools, having most the most recent 11 contests between the programs.
• Dworkin led the Owls with four points on the day, coming from a goal and three assists. She rounds out her KSC career with the 19th most points, as she tallied 151 over her four years as an Owl, to go with her 104 assists, which are the second most in program history.
• Both fifth years for the Owls, Ratajack and St. Marie finished with a pair of points each, as Ratajack scored a pair of goals in the 27 minutes that she played in, and St. Marie had each a goal and an assist.
• Ratajack finishes her career with the Owls with the second most points in program history, with 287 over her years at KSC, coming from her 235 goals, which is the most in program history, along with her 52 assists, which is the 15th most in program history. Ratajack also leads numerous other career categories, including shots on goal (329), ground balls (251), caused turnovers (230), free position goals (35), along with the fourth most draw control wins (191). Ratajack's 2024 season was another for the record books, as she scored the most goals in a season for an Owl, with 72, along with the fifth most points, with 87, tied her 2022 season for the second most caused turnovers in a season, with 62, and tied her teammate, Brown, with 11 free position goals, which is tied for the sixth most in a single season.
• St. Marie finished the season with 83 draw control wins, which was the fourth most in a season for the Owl, along with 13 free position goals, which is the third most in a season. For her career as an Owl, St. Marie finished with one more point than her teammate, Dworkin, as St. Marie logged 120 goals and 32 assists. She currently sits tied with her former teammate, Brigid Casey (2019-2022), with 120 goals over a career for the 13th most in program history. Her 99 caused turnovers rank her fifth in program history, and her 219 draw control wins rank her second in program history, just four behind Jamie Albert's 223.
• If you haven't already, Keene State student-videographer, Josh Rose, produced a video with Ratajack and St. Marie highlighting their five years as an Owl. You can find that video HERE.
• Alexis Phyllides and Elle Lyons, the Owls' other two seniors, each tallied a pair of ground balls on defense for the Owls. The pair have been crucial in ways that stats do not measure to the Owls success this season, which helped them reach the LEC Championship.
• Brown tallied seven caused turnovers in the Owls' win, as she finishes 2024 with 79 caused turnovers, the most in a season by an Owl, which is 17 more than Ratajack's 62 in second place. Brown excelled on both ends of the field in her sophomore season, as she also recorded 80 points on the season, coming from 54 goals and 26 assists.
• In what was her first healthy season for the Owls, Bessette finishes the season with a 12-6 record in net, as she accumulated 110 saves inside the crease for KSC.
• In the game, the Panthers dominated the Owls on shots, as they had 40 to KSC's 21, although KSC was more efficient, as 14 of their 21 shots were on goal, compared to only 26 of the 40 for PSU being on target. PSU also dominated the draw controls, as they won 17 to seven from KSC, with Stowell winning nine (37.5%) of all the draw controls in the contest.

 
Up Next


Keene State's season ends with a 12-6 record, as they reached the LEC Championship for the first time since they hosted the Panthers in the title contest in 2016.
Thank you to everybody that helped to contribute to such a successful season for the Owls and we all wish the senior group the best of luck in their future endeavors!
Plymouth State advances to the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament and they will find out who they will play next on Sunday night during the selection show.