PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Coming off their first win of the season, the Keene State College women's lacrosse team continued their momentum with a 9-7 win over Hartwick College on Tuesday afternoon, led by five points from Tess Brown as she also set the program record for career ground balls for the Owls with her five in the victory.

Records

• Keene State: 2-5 (1-0 LEC)
• Hartwick: 1-5 (0-1 Empire 8)

How it Happened


The Owls' starting goalkeeper, Katelyn Nicotera held strong in the opening nine minutes of the contest as she made three saves in net, and on the other side of the field, Riley Devine assisted Tess Brown on her first of four goals of the day to put the Owls up 1-0 with 6:01 remaining in the first quarter. After both goalies made another save over the next minute, Hartwick drew even with a goal from Jammie Decker, but it did not stay even for long as Hayden Smith put the Owls ahead with her first goal of the day shortly after to put KSC back ahead. With Smith's goal and a free position shot saved by Nicotera in goal with under 30 seconds remaining in the quarter, the Owls took their 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
 
3:57 into the second quarter the Hawks drew even once again, but over the next 5:06, KSC took command with three consecutive goals to retake the lead. Helen Baxter assisted Brown for the first of the three goals, while Devine won the ensuing draw control leading to another goal from Smith for the second of the three 37 seconds later. Each goalkeeper made a save in goal before the Owls took the three-goal lead with 5:57 remaining as Anna Maccarini scored the third goal to put KSC ahead 5-2. Hartwick pulled within a pair with 2:58 remaining in the half and won the ensuing draw control to look to cut into the Owls' lead more, but following a caused turnover from Brown, KSC increased the lead back to three heading into the half as she assisted Smith for her third goal of the game to give the Owls a 6-3 lead heading into the half.
 
Just as she opened the scoring in the first half, Brown opened the scoring for the Owls in the second half as she put KSC up by four 3:47 into the second half. The rest of the third quarter Brooke Lynett made four saves in net for the Hawks, including a pair of free position shots, while Parker Laurin scored her third goal of the game for HC to cut into the Owls' lead making the score 7-4 heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
 
After retaining possession at the end of the third quarter, Hartwick took advantage and scored almost immediately to open the fourth quarter as Adelyn Esce scored 19 seconds into the fourth to cut KSC's lead to two. Over the ensuing 6:51 the Owls doubles their lead back up to four as Maccarini scored her second of the game and Brown scored her fourth of the game to go up 9-5 with 7:50 remaining in the contest. Lynett responded in goal for the Hawks with a pair of saves over the next two minutes, while Nicotera made three saves herself over the next few minutes maintaining the Owls' lead at four with 3:28 remaining. Hartwick was not waving the white flag as they continued to pepper Nicotera in goal, resulting in two goals over 43 seconds late in the contest to pull within two with 1:58 remaining. After letting the two shots by her, Nicotera anchored down in the last minute of the game to close the game out as she made two saves, including a free position shot saved, to hold on to the Owls' 9-7 victory.
 
"We put ourselves in position to win a close game. I love that, even when they pushed us at the end, we were able to hold true due to our effort and energy in the first 3 quarters," said Owls' head coach Travis Wyant. "Great to get two wins in a row."
 
Inside the Crease

• Brown led the Owls on the attack with a game-high five points from her game-high four goals and assist in the win. Her game-high five ground balls in the contest bring her career total to 252 career ground balls, the new program career record for ground balls.
• Smith and Maccarini both tallied multi-point games with Smith recording her three goals and Maccarini scoring her two goals.
• Nicotera recorded 14 saves in goal for a .667 SV% on the day, which is the second-most saves in her career after making 15 saves in a game earlier in the season. Three of Nicotera's saves on the day came from free position shots in the win.
• KSC went 17-for-23 (73.9%) on clears on the day, while HC went (65.2%) on clears.
• Hartwick had the edge on draw controls, as KSC won seven of the 18 draw controls (38.9%) with Hartwick winning all five in the fourth quarter.

 
Up Next

Keene State plays in their second spring break game for their next contest, which is their third of five consecutive road games as the Owls take on Ramapo College on Thursday, March 19, at 5:00 PM.
Hartwick next plays in their second spring break game for their next contest as they take on SUNY Cortland on Thursday, March 19, at 2:00 PM.