On Saturday evening at the Owl Athletic Complex, a women’s lacrosse game was held in tandem with Senior Night. On Senior Night, athletes who have put in years of hard work to the program have one final home game with the team. Before the game started, seniors Anya Dinger, Payton Guntulis, Kara Moriarty, Tess Brown, Riley Devine and Mabelle Bessette all got the recognition they deserved.
After recognizing the seniors, a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle occurred, and the Owls eventually came out on top with a score of 12-10, improving their overall record to 6-9 and their Little East Conference record to 3-3. Their opponents, Plymouth State University (PSU), dropped to 5-9 on the season.
Senior midfielder Tess Brown was the player to watch during the game as she could not be contained, scoring four times to make her 34th to 37th goal of the season. Her sophomore midfielder teammate, Lola Varricchione, finished with three goals on the day, while junior attack Hayden Smith added one goal and a game-high three assists. The Owls broke out first at the 33-second mark in the game, then went back and forth against PSU.
However, the Panthers responded quickly, tying it up right away to continue the pace. The Owls lead the first period by a close one-point score at 4-3.
The second period saw the Owls distance themselves from the Panthers, outscoring them 5-2, and leaving the Panthers down by four points, 9-5, at halftime. Varricchione and Smith contributed significantly.
PSU fought back in the third period with a 4-1 scoring difference, bringing the lead down to 10-9 against Keene State. First-year attack Karina Bosco scored four goals for PSU, while other first-year attack Evelyn Goudreau earned two goals and two assists for the team. It was during this period that Goudreau scored the man-up goal that shook up the Owls for a large portion of the game.
In the end, though, the breakthrough came in the fourth period as Keene State found its feet again. With 13 minutes and 58 seconds remaining in the game, Brown scored, putting the Owls up by two goals. Varricchone put the game away with six minutes and 47 seconds left with Smith assisting, closing out the game with a 12-10 victory.
Sophomore goalkeeper Katelyn Nicotera proved reliable for the Owls during the second half of the match, saving seven shots in 45 minutes of playtime. PSU’s first-year goalkeeper, Caitlin Snow, had a tough game, saving nine shots from 21 shot attempts.
Alex Vaccaro can be contacted at
