KEENE, N.H. – Meghan Daileanes scored a hat trick, Irini Stefanakos tied the Keene State College field hockey career assist record, and Grace Bazin continued her scorching start to the season as the Owls put up six goals for the second consecutive night, beating Smith College 6-4 for their ninth straight win to start the season on Wednesday night at the Owl Athletic Complex.

Postgame Interview (Amy Watson)
Postgame Interview (Meghan Daileanes)
Postgame Interview (Irini Stefanakos)

Already off to their best start in the Division III era, KSC (9-0) has scored 47 goals on the season – averaging well over five per game.  Tonight, they had three from three different people in just the opening 12:23 and rolled from there to sweep a four-game homestand.  Smith (1-6) lost their sixth straight since a season-opening victory, three against ranked opponents.

One night after Bazin finished with three goals, tonight it was Daileanes who did the same, with that duo teaming up to open the scoring 2:09 in.  Grace Seabury corralled a lofted pass by Stefanakos near the midline and led Bazin up the left side.  The Owls' leading scorer then dished off to Daileanes in front, who took one touch to her right and rifled a shot past Smith keeper Emma Newman.

KSC was far from done, as they added two more in the back half of the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead.  First, in the eighth minute, Stefanakos and Bazin again created a transition chance working off each other.  Bazin carried up the left side and fired into a space at the top of the circle for Stefanakos to run on to.  Gwen Tuckett got a brief touch on it for the Pioneers, but not enough to disrupt the play, and Stefanakos ran onto it and laced it into the left side of the cage to make it 2-0. 

Bazin added her second assist of the quarter less than five minutes later when, again, she came up the left side, this time getting past several defenders in the circle as she moved toward goal.  Newman came over to attempt to break up the play, along with at least three other defenders, but Bazin threaded a pass to Seabury, who finished into an open net.

Leading 3-0, Stefanakos and Daileanes connected in the 21st minute off a transition rush.  Stefanakos carried to the top of the circle after a back pass from Bazin and moved to her right around two defenders before firing a bouncer through traffic that found its way in.

Smith got on the board through Karlie Guimond with about eight minutes to go in the first half, but KSC took a 4-1 lead to the locker room and outshot the Pioneers 15-7 with a 5-2 edge in penalty corners.

The home team put the game away with a pair of goals in the opening 12 minutes of the second half to make it 6-1.  First, just 4:03 out of the break, KSC capitalized on a two-on-none breakaway as Molly Murray and Stefanakos freed Daileanes and Bazin in on goal alone.  Daileanes took it herself, moving up the right side and rocketing a shot past Newman to restore a four-goal advantage.  Bazin scored for the 17th time in nine games this season in the 43rd minute, tipping home a perfect Stefanakos centering feed.
Keene State led 6-1 through three before Smith scored three goals in the final 11 minutes to set the final margin, including a pair in the final 2:41.

The Owls have won 13 of 19 all-time against Smith, though the victory tonight snapped a three-game losing streak in the series.

Stefanakos had three assists on the evening to up her season total to 10, and with her next helper will surpass Erin Dallas (2007-2009) as the new KSC leader in that category.

A pair of important non-conference road games await KSC, first visiting the University of New England (3-5) on Saturday, September 28 at 1:00 p.m.  UNE has dropped five of six, being shut out in four of those contests.  Smith hosts NEWMAC opponent Salve Regina University (7-0, 1-0) on the same day at 2:00 p.m.