KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's team hosted New England College on Sunday afternoon at Dr. Ron Butcher field as KSC looked to improve to 2-0 to open their season for the first time since the shortened season in the spring of 2021. After Owls' senior captain, Katherine Burzlaff, scored just over a minute into the contest, KSC cruised to a 7-0 victory, thanks to Burzlaff's first career hat trick in the Owls' victory.

Records

• Keene State: 2-0
• New England College: 0-2

Postgame Interview (Sarah Testo)
Postgame Interview (Kate Burzlaff)

How it Happened

The Owls were on the attack early in the first half as they outshot the Pilgrims 13-3 over the opening 45 minutes of play. Elizabeth Tschudin nearly got KSC on the board in the opening 27 seconds, but NEC's goalkeeper, Hollie Bomba made a save in net. Although the Owls were able to capitalize 1:12 into the contest as Burzlaff scored her first of the game, off a corner kick from Giuliana Stolfi. Both teams traded shots over the next 15 minutes, as Burzlaff rang a shot off the crossbar after another corner kick, and then KSC goalkeeper, Riley Andriski, made her only two saves in net that she would face on the day, to keep the Pilgrims off the board. Following Andriski's second save, KSC got off seven shots on the attack. After two missed the target and Bomba made four saves, freshman Kaylee Cormier scored her first career collegiate goal to put KSC up 2-0 with 19:50 remaining in the opening half. Neither team scored the remainder of the half, as KSC was only able to muster off another pair of shots, with Bomba needing to make just one save, to deny Isabella Moran from scoring in her second consecutive game to open the season for the Owls.
 
The Owls continued to dominate the Pilgrims in the second half even more than they did in the first half, as KSC outshot NEC 30-2, including 14-0 in shots on goal in the second. Brynn Dickinson opened the scoring for the second half, as she threw the ball into Allison Kenyon, who made a passed it right back to Dickinson and shortly after fired a shot past Bomba to put KSC up 3-0, 2:46 into the second half. Bomba was able to make a save on the next pair of KSC shots, but following a corner kick from Stolfi, and a header that fell short from Kenyon, Burzlaff scored her second goal of the game, 2:57 after Dickinson's goal. Over the next nine minutes of play the Owls continued to dominate on the attack, outshooting the Pilgrims 10-1, but Bomba made another three saves in net to try to do her part for the Pilgrims. After the third save, she was unable to corral the rebound as it fell right to the feet of Kenyon for her first career collegiate goal, with Claire Halligan and Dickinson picking up assists on KSC's fifth goal of the game. 10 minutes later Burzlaff picked up the hat trick as she scored off an assist from Moran at the 69:29 mark. Bomba made four saves over the course of the rest of the game and saw another shot go off a post, this time from Christina Sanders, but with 1:00 remaining in the contest, the Owls added one more goal, as Cormier scored her second of the game to make the final score 7-0 for KSC over NEC.
 
Inside the Box

• KSC improved to 4-0 in the four all-time meetings between the two schools, as they have outscored the Pilgrims 21-0 over the four contests.
• Having entered the game with one career goal over her three previous seasons as an Owl, Burzlaff netted a hat trick on five shot attempts in the game.
• KSC outshot NEC 43-5 in the contest, including 22-2 in shots on goal.
• Bomba made 15 saves in net for the Pilgrims, while Andriski made a pair of saves in her 45 minutes in net and freshman Hannah Verville did not need to make any saves in net for the Owls in her first 45 minutes of her collegiate career.
• After missing the 2023 season due to an injury, Kenyon recorded her first career collegiate points, with her first goal and first two assists, in her second game of the season. Cormier also tallied the first two goals of her collegiate career in her second game. 

Up Next


Keene State returns home for their next contest, as they will host Colby-Sawyer on Wednesday, September 4, at 6:00 PM.
New England College's next game is their first home game of the season, as they will host Johnson & Wales (R.I.) on Saturday, September 7, at 12:00 PM to kick off GNAC play.