Keene State field hockey improved to 7-7 on the season on Saturday, Oct. 15, taking down Framingham State by a score of 5-2. The game was sponsored by Morgan’s Message, an organization dedicated to spreading awareness about mental health of student athletes and eliminating the stigma surrounding it. The partnership was organized by field hockey players juniors Emma Cahoon and Molly Edmark, as well as women’s lacrosse defender sophomore Elle Lyons.
It would be a tight first half overall, as both offenses mounted scoring opportunities, but would end up with only one goal on each side. Framingham tallied the first goal of the contest just five minutes in, and the Rams had the Owls under pressure early.
Despite falling behind early, Keene State would rally quickly to tie the game just five minutes after on a goal from senior midfielder and captain Chase Lambert, set up by sophomore forward Irini Stefanakos, who would appear frequently on the stat sheet throughout the day.
The second quarter saw a few chances for both teams to take the lead, but ultimately neither would deliver. Both teams went to halftime tied at 1-1.
The game was decided in the third quarter, as a surge on offense from Keene State would put the game out of reach. It began early in the quarter, as the Owls took a 2-1 lead thanks to first-year forward Julia Baer scoring a goal, also assisted by Stefanakos. Within the same minute, Keene’s new lead was extended to 3-1, as Stefanakos took advantage of a Rams turnover in their own end and beat Framingham’s goalie on a rebound of her initial shot on goal.
Framingham would keep applying pressure after the goals, and eventually they drew to within a goal to make it 3-2 late in the quarter, still with another quarter to go in the game.
Despite the strong push from the Rams, the Owls used the fourth quarter to seal the game. Stefanakos would get her second goal of the game with 11:08 left to push the Keene lead back to two. Just under four minutes later, the Owls would score again, this time with senior forward Clara Hunkins getting the goal on the third assist from Stefanakos in the game. The 5-2 score held up for the final seven minutes, and the Owls snapped a three-game losing streak with their win, also improving to 6-1 this season in Little East Conference (LEC) play.
Keene State will face off against Southern Maine on Oct. 22 at 1:30 p.m. at the Owl Athletic Complex as the Owls look to continue building momentum for the upcoming LEC playoffs.
Ryan Goodwin can be contacted at
rgoodwin@kscequinox.com
