KEENE, N.H. – Sophomore
Elle MacDonald scored her first career goal 7:23 into the second half to help the Keene State College field hockey team break through, and the Owls went on to score twice more as they blew past Clark University 3-0 on Wednesday night at the Owl Athletic Complex to snap a four-game slide.
Having lost four consecutive games 2-1, including one against a nationally-ranked team and most recently a frustrating affair against Western Connecticut State University in which they had a 28-3 shots advantage, KSC (8-6) took out some of their frustrations in front of an engaged Owls4Owls crowd – a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) initiative to promote peer-to-peer support among team – as they outshot the Cougars (5-8) 36-2, holding the visitors shotless for the final three quarters.
The Owls were in control in every facet throughout but could not break through Clark goalie Rachel Reiter until the third quarter as the teams played to a scoreless tie at the break. KSC's ice-breaker came off the final of their four third quarter corners, as
Elyse Picard inserted to
Emma Bazin at the top of the circle. Bazin and
Grace Seabury then executed a give-and-go, freeing up the former to slide an intentional pass to MacDonald on the right side, and the Owl sophomore executed a perfect redirection past Reiter to her left as KSC took a 1-0 lead with 7:36 to go in the third. The goal came after the Owls pelted Reiter out of the locker room, as the Cougars' netminder made five stops in the opening 7:16 of the third alone and 18 in total in the game.
Although KSC nearly completely eliminated Clark's offense with their aggressive midfield defense and offensive possession, the Owls widened their lead with a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to fully salt the game away. First, Seabury capped off a strong individual effort after
Meghan Daileanes forced a turnover, rushing up nearly half the field and into the circle, burying a shot against her momentum moving to the left as she lofted the ball past Reiter's blocker.
Henley Gilstrap was right there for a tip, but the shot missed both Reiter and Gilstrap as it hit the side board at the bottom near the far post. Gilstrap did not miss a little over six minutes later, corralling a rebound of a blocked shot off the stick of Bazin and sliding one into the back of the cage to make it 3-0 with 3:06 left.
It was a much-needed offensive night for the Owls, who had not scored more than one since a 4-3 road victory at Thomas College (Maine) on September 26. They also had not led in their four-game slide, which began with a road overtime loss to then-No. 16 Endicott College after they tied the game on a beautiful rush into the circle and score by Daileanes with less than three minutes to go in regulation. KSC also fell to the University of New England, Plymouth State University, and WestConn 2-1, with the two league affairs resulting in defeats in games they combined for a 52-19 shots advantage.
The Owls left nothing to chance tonight, running up their most lopsided shots advantage of the season, allowing a season-low two shots and no corners.
KSC has won five straight in the series by a combined score of 21-7, a series that saw three meetings between 2000 and 2003, one in 2005, and three more from 2024 through this season.
Owls goalkeeper
Tori Kelly made one save to pick up the shutout.
Keene State heads back out on the road for an important Little East Conference matchup on Saturday (October 17), visiting Eastern Connecticut State University for a 12:00 p.m. start. The Owls defeated the Warriors 1-0 on the road to win their 16th league championship a season ago, avenging a 4-2 home loss in the regular season on Senior Day.
