Strong Second Half Sends Keene State Women's Lacrosse Past Plymouth State

Photo is courtesy of Keene State

PLYMOUTH, N.H.-- The Keene State College women's lacrosse team took a big step towards capturing the top seed in the Little East Conference tournament with a 14-9 win over Plymouth State University on Tuesday night.

Records

• Keene State: 8-6, 4-0 LEC
• Plymouth State: 8-4, 2-1 LEC

Up Next

• Keene State returns home to host UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at 1 p.m.  Seniors Kaitlin Nolan, Meghan Malloy, Laura Gendreau, and Natalie Barnett will be honored before the game.  The Owls can also clinch the No. 1 seed in the LEC tournament with a win.
• Plymouth State travels to Eastern Connecticut State for an LEC matchup on Saturday at noon.

Tale of the Tape

• Junior Jenna Bellano led the Owls with five goals, while sophomore Taylor Farland tallied three goals and senior Kaitlin Nolan and freshman Samantha Ballard contributed two goals and two assists each.
• Senior Laura Gendreau picked up a team-high six ground balls, and Nolan and Ballard combined for nine draw controls. 
• The Owls defense forced the home team into 31 turnovers, led by junior Amanda Makar and senior Natalie Barnett with three caused turnovers apiece.
• Keene State outscored the Panthers 9-1 in the second half, including the final eight goals of the game to pull away.

First Half Highlights

• Plymouth State had control of the game early on, scoring the first five goals of the game and causing a KSC timeout 10 minutes in. 
• Bellano scored twice and Nolan added another to get KSC within 5-3.  The Panthers netted three of the next four, but Bellano set up Ballard to cut the gap to 8-5 at halftime.

Second Half Highlights

• The teams traded goals in the first three minutes to open the half, but Keene State tied it at nine as Farland had goals on either side of another from Bellano.
• Taylor Graf put Keene State in front for good with a goal at 16:37, and the Owls never looked back.
• Nolan, Bellano, and Tori Weinstock all scored in a 1:08 span to help the Owls pull away, and Farland put the icing on the cake with a marker with 33 seconds to go.

Parts of this story courtesy Plymouth State Athletics