KEENE, N.H. – After allowing a goal in the final two minutes of the opening period, the Keene State College women's hockey team was unable to mount a comeback against the University of Southern Maine Huskies as USM's lone goal decided the contest for the 1-0 defeat of the Owls.

Records

• Keene State: 4-5 (2-4 LEC)
• USM: 4-5-0 (4-2-0 LEC)

Postgame Interview (Coach Morgan)

How it Happened
KSC was on the attack early in the contest, but USM's goaltender, Maggie Jones, made three saves over the opening 3:01 to keep the contest scoreless. The Huskies responded back with four shots on goal the Ai Chung, KSC's goaltender, saved over the next six minutes. 9:19 into the contest, KSC was called for what would up being their lone penalty of the day and the Owls killed it off with three saves from Chung and a blocked shot from Emily Edmunds for KSC. Jones made three more saves for USM over the next six minutes, while Chung made four more for KSC as the period started to come to a close. With 1:44 remaining in the opening period, Sophia Capone's shot from the blue line was deflected in front of the net by Jillian Jackson and past Chung to put the Huskies ahead by a goal heading into the first intermission.
 
Despite the second period being the busiest period of action for both goaltenders of the day, Chung still needed to make double the saves Jones had to over the 20 minutes as Chung made 20 saves to Jones' 10 in the period to keep it a scoreless period. Chung made two saves in the opening 30 seconds of the second period and following a penalty against the Huskies, Chung was forced to make another pair of saves while USM was on the penalty kill shortly after. The Huskies killed off the penalty early in the second with the Owls only recording one shot on goal that Jones saved. Over the next six minutes, Chung held strong in net for the Owls by making eight more saves to go with a pair of blocked shots by the Owls' defense, while on the other side of the Ice, Jones made two saves to go with three blocked shots by USM's defense. KSC applied the pressure over the ensuing four minutes with nine shots, but Jones made five saves and the Huskies defense blocked three more shots to preserve the lead with eight minutes remaining in the second period. The rest of the second, Chung made eight more saves to just two from Jones to send the contest into the final period with USM up 1-0.
 
Chung continued to do what she could to preserve the Owls' lead over the first eight minutes of the third period but despite her six saves, the Owls' attack was unable to get going. 8:42 into the third KSC had their second power play opportunity and after a save from Jones, USM was called for another penalty, giving KSC a 5-on-3 opportunity for the next 1:17. On the two-skater advantage the Owls were only able to get two shots off, which Jones saves while the remainder of the 5-on-4 resulted in one more save for Jones as the Huskies came away with their lead still and the game moved into under 10 minutes remaining. Over the next six minutes, Chung made five saves to limit the Huskies' lead and was eventually pulled with just over a minute remaining to try for the extra attacker. The rest of the way KSC only managed one shot on goal that Jones saved. In the closing seconds the Huskies received a five-minute major for cross checking after the contest from the final faceoff with 2.5 remaining on the clock, which led to a scrum with the Owls' defending their teammate who took a cheap cross check in the final seconds.
 
Inside the Crease

• KSC falls to 0-1 in the all-time regular season matchups against the Huskies after KSC defeated USM 6-3 in the fall of 2024 in an exhibition prior to the Owls' inaugural season opener.
• Chung continued to hold strong in net for the Owls despite the goal allowed with 43 saves in the contest, following up her 56-save performance against Williams last weekend that earned her the LEC Goaltender of the Week award for the third of five possible weeks this season.
• 10 different Owls blocked a shot in the contest with Edmunds and Tilde Byström leading the way with two blocked shots apiece.
• KSC went 13-for-34 (38.2%) on faceoffs on the day with Loreli Norman going 4-for-8 (50%) to lead the Owls.
• KSC went 0-for-3 on the power play on five shots, while USM went 0-for-1 with three shots.

 
Up Next
 
Keene State returns to the ice on the road on Sunday, December 7, at 2:00 PM at Bowdoin College for the Owls' final game before the holiday break.
Southern Maine's next game is also against Bowdoin as the Huskies host the Polar Bears on Tuesday, December 9, at 7:00 PM.