WARWICK, R.I. – The Keene State College women's golf team has three in the top six of the leaderboard and recorded a round-high six birdies as a team at the first day of the inaugural Little East Conference championship at the Valley Country Club, hosted by Rhode Island College.
The Owls shot a combined 370 as a team and trail first-place Husson University by six strokes at the end of the first day of a historic day for the conference as a league championship for another sport got underway. Junior Madi Mousley shot an 87 that included a pair of birdies (No. 12, No. 16) to end the day in third, while rookie
Sadie Murray finished with a 91 that included four pars to sit in fifth.
Abby Weiterman and her round-high three individual birdies (No. 3, No. 10, No. 17) is right behind in sixth, while
Mackenzie Hagearty and
Laura Donahue each shot a 99.
Mousley trails leader Caitlyn Chabot of Husson by four strokes and Remy Levin of the University of Southern Maine by two for the individual title. USM is 10 strokes behind the Owls in third (380). It appears to be a three-team race entering the final day on Friday, which will tee off at 9:00 a.m., with Husson, KSC, and USM separated by just 16 strokes. Eastern Connecticut State University, in its first-ever year as a program, is in fourth with a 438 – followed by Westfield State University (445), Rhode Island College (464), and Western Connecticut State University (471).
Five of KSC's six birdies came on holes ten through 18 – but so too did some of their most burdensome scores, with a 10 on the par three No. 12 and four triple bogeys preventing the Owls from otherwise being in the lead. Chabot's 37 (one over) on the back nine were she parred six holes are ultimately the difference. The current leader closed minus-one on the final four holes, posting a birdie on the 403-yard par-5 16th, and additionally posted nine pars.
The Owls were the only team to have three different players record a birdie.
"We played well, all five players broke 100," said KSC head coach
Jeff Timmer. "We are in a good spot to compete for the championship. Hopefully we can make a few more putts tomorrow."
Keene State and Husson will tee off together tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., with five groups separated by eight minutes and the final group of Mousley and Chabot going off at 9:32 a.m. USM and WCSU will begin at 9:40 a.m., while ECSU, RIC, and Westfield State will hit the course at 10:12 a.m.
The Owls will be hunting their first conference championship of the 2025-2026 academic year. Southern Maine won the first event of the year when they staved off the field to take the men's golf title. Both cross country championships will be contested on Saturday, November 1 at the Owl Athletic Complex with KSC looking to defend both titles. The Owl men's golf team finished third at the LEC championship two weeks ago.
