KEENE, N.H. –
Elyse Picard fired home a perfect pass from
Grace Seabury on a corner play with 7:51 left to give the Keene State College field hockey team their first lead of the game, and the Owls went on to down Westfield State University 4-3 at the Owl Athletic Complex in non-conference action Thursday night.
KSC (4-0) had to play from behind for the first time all season, finding themselves down 2-0 after Westfield's (3-1) Caroline Andrade potted her second goal of the night with just seconds left in the first quarter. But the home team fought back – quickly.
Belle Hemond beat Olivia Labrie cleanly to her right despite the Westfield keeper guessing the side correctly just 2:17 into the second quarter, and
Grace Seabury lofted a rebound into the back of the cage just a minute and a half later after extreme KSC pressure that included three consecutive corners. Blink, and the game was tied. It could have been worse for Westfield, as Labrie made four saves in the opening four minutes of the second quarter and had five overall in a period that saw Keene State have a 7-0 advantage in shots and a 5-0 edge in corners.
It stayed 2-2 into halftime and beyond, with Labrie making her final save of the quarter while Westfield was killing off a green card penalty to Andrade. The visitors regained the lead at a venue they have never won in 18 tries at the 38:40 mark as Sadie Stauffer lofted a shot that may have deflected off a KSC defender and past
Tori Kelly's raised arm on her stick side. The play was made possible by Kacey Curran moving into the circle by the end line on the right side, passing off to the dangerous Andrade, who slid a pass over that might have been partially deflected but made its way to Stauffer in the middle of the circle.
Westfield's lead lasted barely over two minutes, however, as Seabury – acting as a point guard – swerved through defenders and into the circle from the top and diagonally approached Labrie, passing off to
Henley Gilstrap for another tying marker with 4:18 in the third that made it 3-3. Gilstrap, a first year Owl from Greenfield, Mass., continues a remarkable start to her collegiate career, now scoring a team-high six times in her first four games – scoring in every one.
Kelly then came up with three big saves – including two on Andrade and Curran within six seconds of each other in the 44th minute – to keep it level, and KSC regained offensive command early in the fourth quarter. It eventually made all the difference, as despite Labrie stopping
Meghan Daileanes and
Emma Bazin early in the period, Keene State cashed in off a corner with 7:51 to go with the Seabury-to-Picard connection as Picard collected Seabury's pass just feet from where she inserted the corner and beat Labrie to the far post.
Kelly and KSC's defense again came up big late, just as they did in the opener against New England College, as they warded off two Westfield corners with Kelly making another big stop on Andrade with 4:25 left.
Kelly finished with nine saves in the winning effort while Labrie also stopped nine but allowed one more, taking the loss as Westfield's season-opening three-game winning streak that included a pair of road wins over NEWMAC teams by a combined 7-2 score, came to an end. Keene State improved to 31-1 in the all-time series, which included a 7-1 win last year.
Seabury finished with a goal, two assists, and four shots to pace KSC. Andrade finished with two goals and one assist while recording eight of the visitors' 13 credited shots.
Both teams won their respective conferences a season ago and made NCAA tournament appearances.
Keene State concludes their three-game week on Saturday at Colby-Sawyer College (3-0) with a noon start time while Westfield travels to face Worcester Polytechnic Institute the same day.
