Keene State Edges Castleton 13-10

Photo is courtesy of Keene State

KEENE, N.H. – The Spartans trailed 5-1 after 20 minutes of play and weren't able to make up the difference the rest of the way as Keene State earned a 13-10 victory on Tuesday afternoon.

Castleton turned the ball over 22 times, won just 11 of 25 draw controls and was outshot 32-16 in dropping to 6-5 overall. The Owls avenged last season's loss and also picked up nine more ground balls, 20-11, as they improved to 6-6 on the year.

Senior Brianna MacKay registered her seventh consecutive game with at least four points, scoring
four goals on six shots while also picking up a ground ball. Maria Ploof added one goal and one assist, while Brandi Whittemore recorded one goal, two assists and four draw controls. Hannah Braman chipped in three ground balls and three draws.

Keene State had assists on ten of their 13 goals, led by Taylor Graf with six assists and two goals. Kaitlin Nolan added four goals and two assists while Jenna Bellano chipped in one goal, two assists and five draw controls.

Bellano opened the scoring just 2:03 into the contest on a free position shot and the Owls pushed their lead to 3-0 at 22:41 on Nolan's second goal. Chantel Wilkin got the Spartans on the board just 22 second later off a Whittemore feed, however, three more Keene goals extended the lead to 6-1 with 9:14left in the half. Castleton did outscore the Owls 3-2 over the last eight minutes, including a goal from MacKay with 14 seconds left to trail 8-4 at the half.

The teams traded goals over the first nine minutes of the second half, culminating in an Emilee Maher goal at 21:10 to make it 11-7. Nolan stretched the Keene lead to five just minutes later, but the Spartans countered with goals by MacKay, Emily Cross and Nadine Downing in under a minute to cut the deficit to just 12-10 with 14:25 remaining. The Owl defense held strong and they added a goal in the final eight minutes to secure the 13-10 win.

Senior Meghan Els took the loss but was solid in net as she made 13 saves while allowing 13 goals. Anna O'Brien earned the victory as she made four saves and gave up ten goals.

The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they host Maine Maritime at 12 pm.