KEENE, N.H. – The seconds were ticking down on Thursday night at the Owl Athletic Complex.  They were ticking down on the chance for Grace Bazin to set the new Keene State College single-season goals record, standing one away.  They were ticking down on the career of Owl Hall of Fame coach Amy Watson, sixth among active NCAA field hockey coaches across all divisions in wins with 512.  They were ticking down on the careers of nine Owl seniors, on the 2025 season, and on KSC's title defense.

Highlights
Postgame Interview (Grace Bazin)...coming soon
Postgame Interview (Molly Diamondstein)...coming soon

The University of Southern Maine – who had won only one time in Keene since KSC joined the league in 1997 – played from ahead for 43 minutes of game time after Julia Elie scored just 6:07 in.  The Huskies added a backbreaking goal with just 26 seconds left in the first half to stake the visitors, who had just lost 3-1 (and trailed 3-0) in Gorham to the Owls this past Saturday, to a 2-0 halftime lead and then rode one Eleanor Folsom save after the next to edge ever-closer to a major upset victory, even despite playing down a player for the final 17 regulation minutes after a red card.

What happened next will live in the hearts of Owl fans for a long time – or at least until Saturday, when KSC will play for back-to-back Little East Conference championships and league record – by far – 16th league crown.

Kalina Piasecki drew the Owls – who utterly dominated the second half – within a goal just 1:34 into the fourth quarter after converting a fourth-chance opportunity following a penalty corner that saw Folsom make three initial stops.  The field continued to tilt even more significantly in KSC's direction when Leah Thibodeau picked up a yellow card with 10:52 left, allowing the Owls to play two-up.  It seemed a tying goal was inevitable.  Chance after chance came – six penalty corners to be exact.  But Folsom was there every time, denying Elyse Picard and Bazin in the 53rd minute. 

USM had the ball across the half line with 1:30 left and again with a minute to go.  KSC inbounded on their defensive half of the field with 45 seconds left – time draining ever short.  Picard led Bazin with a long pass up the left side, just inside the line, where Piasecki then kept it in bounds by the end line and won a corner opportunity with 27.8 to go.  It marked KSC's 17th penalty corner of the half.  Emma Bazin had her initial try from the top of the circle get blocked in front, but Folsom then denied a backhanded flick attempt from Grace Bazin.  The ball was still being knocked around right in front of the cage, where Meghan Daileanes fired wide – but the Owls were awarded a penalty stroke with 13.6 seconds remaining.  Up stepped Bazin – KSC's do-everything senior with the season and her remarkable three-year career as an Owl on her stick.  As she has done all year and in her three years in the Elm City, she did not miss.  The Westminster, Vt. native beat Folsom with power to the low left corner, as the Huskies' keeper dove to the correct side but too late.  Just like that, the Owls – and the crowd – were alive.  Bazin not only set the new single-season KSC goals record with her 37th, surpassing Sami Smith's 36 in 2016, but did so at very nearly the last second, and with so much on the line.

The tale of this wild game - maybe the wildest since KSC downed eventual national champion Middlebury College 1-0 in a shootout in 1998 (the Panthers' lone loss), as alluded to in Watson's Hall of Fame speech - was far from over.

Folsom kicked out what could have been a grade-A scoring chance for the Owls not even two minutes into overtime.  Dylan Barr then broke into the circle for USM with 6:10 to go in the period, but Picard pushed her far enough right to shoot wide.  Bazin then lofted a shot wide on the other end 40 seconds later.  The teams then exchanged unsuccessful corners late in overtime, with Molly Diamondstein making a huge stop on Maddie Niles, who had given USM their 2-0 lead, and Picard warding off Elie's follow-up chance.  Bazin then charged into the circle with less than a minute left in the extra session, but Folsom made a huge save.  A whistle came before the Owls hit home the rebound chance, giving KSC a corner, where Folsom kicked away Bazin's bid from the top right of the circle to send it to a second overtime.

KSC controlled the bulk of the second extra period, outshooting USM 11-2, but could not crack Folsom, who kicked away a rifled shot from Daileanes halfway through.  Kaitlyn Castriotta then had two big chances 30 seconds later, but Folsom waffled away the first before the second trickled wide.  The USM keeper also kicked away a bid from Piasecki before Bazin fired just wide – just barely missing Piasecki's deflection – with 1:52 to go.  The Huskies created one chance of their own late when they earned just their fifth corner of the game, but Thibodeau rang the post on a shot with 1:16 to go – an effort that would have been a close call as far as being in or out of the circle.

As if the game needed more drama?  Next came the first penalty stroke shootout for the Owls in seven years and their first in the postseason since 2005 – a best-of-five format similar to that of the NHL's shootout, where each shooter gets eight seconds to score.

KSC gained the upper hand at 2-1 when Bazin beat Folsom after Thibodeau could not convert in the third round.  Barr and Piasecki each then made to keep it 3-2 Owls, and despite Elie converting a penalty stroke after Taylor Leclerc was fouled on her attempt, Daileanes had a chance to send the Owls to the championship.  She could not, firing wide and moving the shootout into a round-by-round format.  Diamondstein came out to bother Leclerc and forced her to fire wide to begin the sixth round, and up stepped who else but Bazin to end the game – sending the Owls to their 23rd title game appearance after pausing and spinning around an aggressive Folsom before firing into a vacated cage.

The win improved Keene State to a remarkable 57-11 (.838) in the LEC tournament in program history – and extended this era of Owl field hockey at least one more game.

Just like that, a first half where the Huskies outshot KSC 8-4 and led 2-0 was forgotten.  The angst after Bazin was hit with a shot in the upper body and had to leave the game in the first half abated, with the Owl star returning in the third quarter and helping save the day and send KSC back to a familiar spot – one they have been in 23 previous times – playing for a conference championship.

The Owls outshot the Huskies 41-14, including 23-2 in the second half and 37-6 after the first 30 minutes.  KSC also had a 24-5 edge in corners, but Folsom stopped a remarkable 22 shots.

Diamondstein improved to 3-1 in her young career, making five saves in her first postseason game.

The Owls' title fight against Eastern Connecticut State University (12-8, 6-0 LEC), who defeated No. 4 seed Vermont State University Castleton 2-0 at home earlier in the day – weathering four straight Spartan corners late in the fourth before putting the game away with a penalty stroke with 20 seconds left – will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (November 8).  KSC was upset by the Warriors 4-2 at home on Senior Day on October 18, their lone league loss.  It will be the fifth postseason meeting between the two programs, with KSC having won three of the four.  The Owls have won 26 of 32 meetings all-time, but the last three meetings at Rick McCarthy Field have all gone to overtime, with Eastern winning two 3-2 in 2020 and 2021 before KSC blanked the Warriors 1-0 in Connecticut in the regular season last year, an LEC campaign that ended with the Owls avenging a regular season loss to hoist the trophy with a 3-2 win at Castleton.  KSC will be aiming to win consecutive league championships for the first time since 2018, the end of a run of six straight titles.