[singlepic id=572 w=320 h=240 float=right]Keene State College fall sports win two Little East Conference championships
Ryan Glavey
Sports Editor
Keene State College finished its Little East Conference seasons with two conference titles and three runner-ups.
Both the field hockey team and the women’s cross country won the conference championships.
The field hockey team recaptured the conference title after falling short the last two years with a 2-0 victory over in-state rival Plymouth State University.
Senior forward Elizabeth Coffin broke the tie 23 minutes in with the first goal of the game.
Senior midfielder Aislynn Sherry scored the second and final goal for the Owls in the 47th minute.
Freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Davino-Draper had nine saves in one of her best performances of the season.
KSC will now have to host Endicott College in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The field hockey team also defeated Southern Maine 7-0 in the first round of the tournament and Westfield State in a 2-1 victory in the tournament semifinals.
The women’s cross-country team won their twelfth consecutive LEC championship lead by senior Paige Mills who finished first. Also, junior Maggie Fitter and senior Andrea Walsh finished third and fourth respectively to help lead KSC to another title.
All seven of the Owl runners finished the race in the top 15.
Both the KSC men’s and women’s soccer teams lost in the LEC finals and the men’s cross country team finished second at the LEC championship meet.
The men’s soccer team made it to the finals on the strength of an overtime goal from sophomore Scott Douglas to beat Rhode Island College 3-2 in their semifinal match-up.
The Owls fell just short of repeating as LEC champs after a slim 1-0 loss to Eastern Connecticut State.
The Warriors scored on a penalty kick in the fifth minute, and were able to hold off the Owls for the remaining 85 minutes.
In an equally close lose; the women’s soccer team also fell to Eastern Connecticut State 3-2 in penalty kicks.
After going scoreless through the entire game and two overtime periods, the Warriors edged out the Owls.
This came right after KSC beat UMass.-Boston in a similar fashion, topping the Beacons in their semifinal match-up in penalty kicks after a 1-1 contest.
KSC men’s cross country finished second at the LEC championship meet, but had the winning runner.
Senior Ricky Hoyt finished first in the meet, but the Owls were beat out overall by Southern Maine.
The volleyball team did not make it to the conference finals, but put up fight in its loss to a highly ranked UMass.-Boston team in the semifinals.
KSC was swept by UMass.-Boston when the two played during the regular season, but the Owls were able to take a set in the semifinal loss.
UMass.-Boston went on to lose to Plymouth State University in the LEC championship game.
Ryan Glavey can be contacted at rglavey@gmail.com