Second Half Surge Sends Keene State Past Plymouth State, 4-1

Recap, photo courtesy of Keene State

KEENE, N.H.-- Three second half goals broke open a close game as the Keene State College field hockey team emerged with a 4-1 win over Plymouth State University in Little East Conference action at Owl Athletic Complex on Tuesday night.

Records

• Keene State: 13-3, 8-0 LEC
• Plymouth State: 7-4, 6-3 LEC

Up Next

• Keene State hosts UMass Dartmouth on Senior Day on October 15 at 1 p.m.
• The Panthers will also celebrate Senior Day on Saturday, welcoming Westfield State for an 11 a.m. start.

Quotable
"As a team, we were a little frustrated in the first half, but we came out and built off it in in the second half.  I have a great group of teammates and all we want to di is win." -- Sami Smith
"We had to play them all really tight and not take anything for granted.  We focussed on the stuff we've been doing all along and tried to stop the breakaways." --Head Coach Amy Watson
Tale of the Tape

• The Owls got goals from four different players, including Sami Smith's 28th of the year, maintaining her record of scoring in every KSC win this season.
• KSC outshot the Panthers 24-6, and held a 10-5 edge in penalty corners.
• Alivia Bates, making just her third start of the year for PSU, had 12 saves, while KSC starter Gwen Thayer had three stops.

First Half Highlights

• The Panthers started strongly, as Jordan Ray forced a pair of saves out of KSC goalie Gwendolyn Thayer, who made another stop on Nicole Burgess with exactly six minutes player.
• Plymouth State was rewarded for their start, as the Owls were whistled for a penalty.  Katie Martin's stroke to the left side was just past the dive of Thayer for her ninth goal of the season
• The goal spurred Keene State into action, as Sami Smith, the nation's leading scorer, was stuffed by Alivia Bates in the ninth minute.  Smith thought she had tied the game in the 19th minute, but her shot was cleared off the line by Maddy Beatrice.
• Just before halftime, the Owls did tie the game.  Following a penalty corner, Marita Brothers corralled a loose ball and hammered home her second goal of the season past Bates.

Second Half Highlights 

• If the Panthers had a strong beginning to the first half, it was the Owls who came out firing to open the second.  Reigning LEC Rookie of the Week Jensyn Dandeneau tested Bates with a shot just 1:41 into the second half, and Sami Smith and Brittney Cardente shot wide.
• Keene State went ahead in the 57th minute, when Kayla Renaud's shot was spilled by Bates, and Kendal Brown was on hand to slot in the rebound for a KSC lead they would not relinquish.
• Brothers kept the Owls in front in the 64th minute of the game, hooking Rosalie Edmonds' cage bound effort out of the air to preserve the lead.
• Three minutes later, Sami Smith added an insurance goal with her 28th of the season, and Dandeneau added the icing on the cake with her sixth goal in her last four contests with 1:13 to play.