KEENE, N.H.--The Keene State College Department of Athletics has announced that long-time head coaches Amy Watson and Denise Lyons will be inducted into the KSC Athletics/Alumni Hall of Fame this fall.
The induction is slated for Friday, September 12, in the Starlight Room of the Zorn Dining Commons on the Keene State campus.
Amy Watson
Watson, who recently announced her retirement at the conclusion of the 2025 season, has served two different stints as head coach of the Keene State field hockey program.
Watson was originally hired in 1986 and coached for four seasons, when the Owls were in Division II and amassing a record of 34-22-9. When she returned ahead of the 1994 season, Watson made the program her own, shepherding the team into NCAA Division III and the Little East Conference, and making the program into a conference and regional power almost immediately.
By the turn of the millennium, Watson had fashioned the team into a powerhouse, winning the LEC regular season championship every year from 2002-2009, taking LEC tournament titles in all but the first two years and advancing to the NCAA tournament. The run continued from 2011-2018, as Keene State won LEC regular season championships in 2011, and again from 2013-2016, while also taking conference tournament titles in 2011, and from 2013-2018.
The Owls were also successful in the NCAA tournament, winning opening round games in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, the last of which was a memorable, come-from-behind win over SUNY New Paltz, where the Owls rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second half for a 4-3 win. Since 1999, the Owls have defeated nine nationally ranked teams.
Post-COVID, the Owls reached the finals in 2021 and 2023 but came up short, before returning to the summit in 2024 with a 3-2 win over Castleton University on the road to claim a record 15th LEC tournament title.
Watson has coached 17 All-Americans, as well as a multitude of All-Conference and All-Region players, including Nichole Dallas, the first player in program history to be a First Team All-American, Kelly Smith, a two-time All-American, Erin Dallas, the only player to win LEC Offensive Player of the Year (2007) and LEC Defensive Player of the Year (2009), Sami Smith, a two time LEC Offensive Player of the Year (2015, 2016), and Alyssa Rowell, a two time LEC Defensive Player of the Year (2007, 2008). Erin Dallas, Smith, and Rowell were all multiple-time All-Americans as well.
Watson coached four LEC Rookies of the Year, and has been named LEC Coach of the Year seven times (1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2013, and 2014).
Denise Lyons
Already inducted into the Keene State Hall of Fame for her accomplishments on the field, Lyons took over the Owl program in 1992, immediately taking the Owls to the NCAA tournament in her first season.
When Keene State moved into NCAA Division III and the Little East Conference in 1997, the Owls kept on rolling, including a 2002 season that saw the Owls rank as high as 12th in the nation in the NSCAALyons Coaching 2 Coaches Poll, and finish with a perfect 7-0 record in LEC play. Facing Western Connecticut State in the LEC tournament game, KSC overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 on a goal from Jenna Jezierski with 53 seconds remaining. The Owls then took down nationally ranked No. 17 Tufts 1-0 in the second round before falling to No. 4 Wheaton 3-1 on a rain soaked field to finish the season 20-3-1.
Two years later, the Owls were LEC Champions again, rolling past Eastern Connecticut State 3-0 in the title game. KSC knocked off Worcester State, 1-0, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, before bowing out to No. 12 Middlebury.
The Owls returned to the NCAA tournament again in 2013, with a 1-0 win over Eastern Connecticut State in the LEC championship game, going on to beat Haverford in the first round of the tournament and facing eventual national runner-up Williams College in the second round.
The next year, KSC repeated as champions, winning penalty shootouts over WestConn in the semifinals and UMass Boston in the final to become the lowest seeded team to ever win the LEC women's soccer championship.
Lyons has been named Little East Conference Coach of the Year seven times (1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2013, and 2019), and has coached 113 All-LEC Players. Amy Zombeck and Jessica Williams were LEC Players of the Year on her watch, while Erin Lester and Katie Bradford were named LEC Offensive Players of the Year. Beth Vachon, Megan Dempsey, Kelsie Bailey, and Nicole De Almeida were all named the LEC Defensive Player of the Year, with Vachon and De Almeida both winning the award twice. Breanne Lucey, Molly Brunelle, Bradford, Patricia Norton, and De Almeida were all named the conference's Rookie of the Year.
