Keene State Women’s Lacrosse played a close 8-12 game against the Huskies of the University of Southern Maine (USM) on Saturday, April 4, in its annual game to support the charity Morgan’s Message. The Owls were coming off a 19-8 out-of-conference loss at Worcester State. The Huskies, a perfect 2-0 in Little East Conference (LEC) play, arrived in Keene off a 12-9 win against Framingham State.
The first quarter opened with a near instant goal by USM, putting a point-blank shot in the net 35 seconds into the game. The Huskies followed up with another goal only two minutes in, going up 2-0. The Owls failed to convert their first chance at the nine-minute mark as the play was smothered by the shot clock. With six minutes remaining in the first, captain senior midfielder Tess Brown sent one to the back of the net to make the score 2-1. The goal was Brown’s 27th of the season. USM scored again with four minutes remaining, but the Owls got one in again after a goal by first-year attacker Helen Baxter. Baxter scored her seventh goal of the season with less than a minute remaining.
Keene State earned a pair of goals to begin scoring in the second half, with sophomore defender Kayln Arnold and senior midfielder Riley Devine both scoring early. Arnold scored her second goal of the season nine minutes into the second, while Devine scored her ninth of the season 35 seconds later. An unfortunate Keene State yellow card put the Huskies on a man-up advantage, and USM quickly capitalized with a goal, evening the score at 4-4. With four minutes to go until halftime, Baxter scored her second goal to make it 5-4 in the Owl’s favor. The lead was short-lived, however, as USM quickly scored two to end the quarter, the latter goal coming with only six seconds left.
The Huskies continued to keep the Owls down through the third quarter, scoring two through the first six minutes to make the score 8-5 in USM’s favor. Junior attacker Hayden Smith scored her first goal of the day with three minutes left in the quarter, her 14th goal of the season. Unfortunately, in a repeat of the second quarter, the Owls were handed a penalty that USM converted to score its third of the quarter. Ending the quarter, three crucial saves by sophomore goaltender Katelyn Nicotera prevented USM from building a further lead.
The final quarter saw the Huskies solidify their victory, striking first for the fourth time in four quarters to make the game 10-6. Four minutes later, senior defender Payton Guntulis forced a turnover that led to Smith scoring her second goal of the game. After the Owls drained the shot clock for a second time in the match, USM struck back with two goals to increase its lead to five. With two minutes to go, Smith completed her hat trick and scored her third of the day, but the Huskies held strong to win 12-8.
Head Coach Travis Wyant said he felt good about the game despite the outcome. “When we’re thinking about the future, this is a team we could very well see again, and honestly, I hope we see them again,” Wyant said. “It was 6-5 at the half, a one-goal game, [and] we were right there with them. We were playing competitive lacrosse for 30 minutes, it’s just kind of figuring out what we need to do on the back end [of the game].”
The game was one of the Morgan’s Message games held by Keene State throughout the athletic calendar, supporting the charity that is dedicated to athlete mental health. The game featured a raffle, volunteers handing out ribbons, and both teams wearing butterfly shirts in support. Morgan’s Message, founded in 2020, is dedicated to destigmatizing and advocating for athletes’ mental health.
Senior Jason Smith, a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), gave insight into how the matches are planned and coordinated with the organization. “Each team has the opportunity to do a Morgan’s Message game if they so choose, and most of them do. [If they want to], they go through their website, their representatives or SAAC, and [Morgan’s Message] sends us pins, ribbons, stickers and other tabling stuff that teams are able to use for their games.”
Athletic Director Marty Testo emphasized the importance of planning Morgan’s Message events. “[The important part] of planning it is understanding what it stands for, supporting what it stands for and taking that through the lens of athletics, saying ‘this is real, we’re up against this,’” Testo said. “I think that’s the bigger picture of what it’s about.”
Frank LeBlanc can be contacted at
