KEENE, N.H. –
Meghan Daileanes scored twice and added two assists while
Grace Seabury and
Belle Hemond each added multi-goal efforts as the No. 3 seed Keene State College field hockey team bulldozed their way into the Little East Conference tournament semifinals, drubbing sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 8-3 in a quarterfinal game at the Owl Athletic Complex Tuesday night.
Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Smith)
Having beaten UMD (3-17) 7-0 on September 19, KSC (13-7) wasted no control taking command in the second meeting of the season between the teams – seemingly getting shot out of a cannon to build a 3-0 lead not even seven minutes in. Hemond opened the scoring by ripping a shot past Morgan Carr's right on a penalty stroke just 1:28 in – the first of her two penalty stroke goals on the night. The Owls scored a beautiful goal off a corner exactly two minutes later, with
Elyse Picard feeding
Norah Bargatti at the top of the circle for a rocket that made it 2-0. KSC was not done yet, scoring again less than three minutes later when
Lucy Dickenson carried into the circle, split two defenders, and placed a shot past Carr. Entering the conference tournament having won five of their past six games including their regular season finale 2-1 over regular season champion University of Southern Maine, the Owls and their lightning-fast barrage improved to 8-3 at home.
UMass-Dartmouth, who qualified as the No. 6 seed thanks to a 3-2 win over Western Connecticut State University on September 28 after the two teams tied, hung around to some extent in the first half, making it 3-1 on the first goal of the night from Sophia Bouffard just 1:27 after KSC's third goal.
Meghan Daileanes restored a three-goal edge with 10:48 left in the first half with the first of her two goals on the evening, but the Corsairs responded again, with Bouffard finding the back of the cage again off her own corner thanks to Kelly Bates' feed to make it 4-2 with less than two minutes to go until the break. KSC carried that lead into the locker room, though after the rapid-fire start, only outshot UMD 9-6.
Any doubt in the result, however, was quickly removed after halftime, as
Grace Seabury opened the flood gates and made it 5-2 just 4:19 into the third quarter. The Owls then added three more goals in less than four minutes late in the period, with Hemond potting her second penalty stroke at 40:52, Daileanes scoring off another Picard feed less than three minutes later, and Seabury joining in on the fun again with 14 seconds ago. Suddenly, a 4-2 game at one point was an 8-2 runaway – and KSC could keep running along all the way back to the conference semifinals again, where they will make a return trip to Plymouth on Thursday for a 5:00 p.m. start. The Owls were stunned by the Panthers 2-1 on October 2, snapping a 10-game losing streak for PSU in the series.
But here comes another chance, where KSC will aim to return to the Little East Conference championship game on Saturday, and earn a chance to cap off another three-peat in the first season for head coach
Leslie Smith after Amy Watson's long and storied tenure.
Tonight marked the program's 59th Little East Conference tournament victory against just 11 losses, an .843 winning percentage. It was also KSC's tenth straight victory against UMD, who they are 33-7 against all-time including 20-1 in Keene.
Tori Kelly made four stops in the KSC cage for the Owls in the winning effort, while Carr stopped three shots in 34:19 and Shane Cueman 11 in relief action (25:41). The Owls had a 31-9 shots advantage.
Daileanes' pair of markers moved her within one of
Henley Gilstrap for the team lead, with Seabury now just a goal and an assist away from reaching double-digits in both categories this season.
The other Little East quarterfinal saw No. 4 seed Eastern Connecticut State University score five unanswered goals – all in the first half – to knock out No. 5 seed Vermont State University Castleton 5-3 and earn a trip to Southern Maine on Thursday.
Field hockey is the second KSC program to have reached the conference semifinals, with women's soccer taking on the University of Massachusetts-Boston tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. with a trip to the title game on the line.
