Claire Boughton
Senior Sports Reporter
On the night of October 2, Owls fans gathered at Dr. Ron Butcher Field for a soccer double header with the women’s team facing Salve Regina at 5 and the men’s team facing Castleton at 7.
With the women’s team falling to Salve Regina with a final score of 2 to 1, it was up to the men’s team to bring home a win for the Owls that night.
In the fifth minute of the game, Keene States sophomore defensemen, Henry Cummings (5’), scored his first career goal assisted by teammate Emmanuel Smith.
Further into the first half, Emmanuel Smith (22’) scored his own goal with an assist from teammate LJ Luster.
The half ended with yet another Keene State goal made by freshman midfielder, Josue Assantha (33’).
Going into the half the Owls led three to nothing against the Castleton Spartans.
However, the second half would prove to be a challenging one, both play wise and temper wise.
Spartan Jack Kingdon (‘50) scored early in the second half off of a penalty shot, bringing the score to 3 Owls, 1 Spartans. Adrenaline was running high for both teams and it wasn’t long before the Little East Conference rivalry surfaced.
With only fifteen minutes remaining in the game, a scrum broke out between the Owls and Spartans resulting in three yellow cards.
The altercation started when Owls goalkeeper, Anthony Pasciuto, made a mid-air save on a shot from a Castleton player. There was a collision between Pasciuto and two Castleton players after the save was made, knocking the ball out of Pasciuto’s hands.
While the two Castleton players helped Pasciuto to his feet, Jack Herlihy, a junior defender, and a Castleton player raced to the ball, leading to yet another collision.
Before play ended there were shoves exchanged between both Herlihy and the Spartan.
The whistle blew and two other Spartan players approached Herlihy while Connor Downey, junior midfielder, ran up to defend his teammate.
Herlihy stepped back away from the Spartans with the ball in one hand and the other hand up in the air.
A shoving match formed between Downey and the other Spartans and soon more players from both teams got involved, leading to the whistle being blown twenty times before the teams were separated.
After the referees deliberated for several minutes, three yellow cards were given. One card went to Diatourou Drame, a Castleton player, while two cards were given to Keene players. Yusufu Juma recieved a yellow and Jack Herlihy received his fifth yellow card of the season, meaning he has to sit out of Keene’s next game.
The final score for the game was 3 to 1, Owls winning.
Claire Boughton can be contacted
at cboughton@kscequinox.com
