WESTFIELD, Mass. – Grace Bazin and Meghan Daileanes led seven Owls who recorded points, each scoring twice, as the Keene State College field hockey team overwhelmed Westfield State University 7-1 in non-conference action Thursday night at Alumni Field.

KSC improved to 5-0 with the blowout, winning their first five games in consecutive seasons.  Last year, they posted wins in their first 10 games to set a Division III-era record.
They are halfway there to tying this mark, and did so by scoring five times in the opening 28:31.  Jennifer Erikson opened the scoring in the ninth minute off a corner, taking a pass from Emma Bazin after the insert and lofting a laser past the outstretched stick of Westfield goalkeeper Olivia Labrie.  Another nice corner play for KSC less than three minutes later doubled the lead, as Erikson passed to the top of the circle where Belle Hemond then fed Grace Seabury by the right post, who then passed across to Daileanes for a tap in goal into a mostly open cage.  Keene State led 2-0 through one and outshot Westfield 10-0 in the opening 15 minutes.

Not much changed from there, as Kaitlyn Castriotta corralled a loose ball in the middle of the circle and fired it off Labrie's foot and in for a 3-0 lead with eight minutes to go until halftime.  Westfield trimmed their deficit to two in the 26th minute when Sadie Stauffer whacked a ball from nearly 35 yards out and bounced into the circle, where it somewhat remarkably went through KSC defenders and found the stick of Lilianna Atkins, who lofted the pass over Gorman to make it 3-1.  The home team's momentum was rapidly dashed, as Daileanes and Sophia Merenda scored 1:25 apart with less than three minutes to go in the half to stake KSC to a 5-1 lead. 

Keene State had a 35-9 edge in shots in the game, including 19-3 in the opening half.  They had 14 of 16 corners, including 11 in the first three quarters.

Bazin accounted for the final two goals, scoring twice in less than seven minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters to move her season total to double-digits just five games in.  Her 55 career goals as an Owl are now just one away from tying seventh-place (Elizabeth Coffin) on the Keene State all-time goals list.  Bazin also has four multi-goal games out of a possible five this season, including three game-winners, and has peppered 34 shots on goal (double-digits three times).  Her offense has helped KSC outscore opponents 24-8 so far this season, with a plus-88 edge in shots.

Clara Gorman started for the Owls in the cage and made one stop in the first half to get the win.  First year Molly Diamondstein stopped all four shots that came her way in the second half.  Labrie took the loss for Westfield, stopping eight in the opening half.  Emma Gniadek stopped five in the second half.

What was WSU's 2025 home opener could not turn the tides in the all-time series, where Keene State has won 30 of 31.  The seven-goal output for KSC tonight is the most in the series since they downed Westfield State 9-0 in the 2017 LEC championship game at the Owl Athletic Complex.  Westfield's only win against Keene State came in a 1-0 upset in 2009 in Massachusetts.  They have scored more than two goals in a game against KSC just once, a 4-3 loss in 2013.

The Owls return to Keene for a Homecoming matchup against Fitchburg State University (3-1) on Saturday, September 13 at 11:00 a.m.