Women’s Lacrosse
Despite struggling early, the Keene State College women’s lacrosse team advanced to a 5-0 conference record with a home win over the Plymouth State University Panthers on April 19.
The Panthers scored the first five goals of the contest, forcing the KSC women to regroup with a timeout at the 20-minute mark. When they resumed play, the Owls came back with new life as junior midfielder Jenna Bellano netted two goals followed by another goal from senior attack Kaitlin Nolan. With the score 5-3, the Panthers reasserted their dominance by rattling off three of the next four goals to keep the Owls in a deficit.
Bellano continued to energize the Owls offensively by tossing an assist to first-year midfielder Samantha Ballard to bring the score to 8-5 at halftime. In the second half, both teams scored one at the start before sophomore midfielder Taylor Farland scored goals on either side of another from Bellano. The Owls then took the lead for good with a goal from junior attack Taylor Graf.
Tim Smith / Photo Editor
Nolan, Bellano and sophomore midfielder Tori Weinstock all scored goals before Farland capped off an impressive comeback victory with the final goal of the game. Bellano finished as the team’s high scorer with five goals, while senior defender Laura Gendreau ended with a team high of six ground balls.
The Owls continued their win streak in dominant fashion as they rolled over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs on Saturday, April 23, at home.
After ten minutes, Nolan scored the first goal of the game and Bellano followed by scoring her 100th career goal just two minutes later. After hitting a personal milestone, Bellano scored once again off an assist from Nolan. Weinstock then scored on an unassisted tally with another from Bellano and a goal from Farland for a 6-0 lead.
The Corsairs finally made it on the scoreboard with a goal from Leah Douty before the Owls countered with goals from Kelly Chadnick and Ballard. With the score 8-1, Raquel Riley scored for the Corsairs before Nolan and Chadnick scored their second of the game with Chadnick scoring with a player advantage.
In the second half, the Owls continued their offensive barrage and managed to shutout the Corsairs for good. Meghan Malloy scored on a 2-on-1 fast break with Nolan delivering the pass before Farland netted two more. With six minutes remaining, Erica Stauffer scored followed by the close out goal from Nolan with 54 seconds on the game clock. First-year goalkeeper Anna O’Brien finished her performance with three saves before junior Alison Argiro had five saves in relief.
Men’s Lacrosse
In a game where eight different players for the Keene State College men’s’ lacrosse team scored, the Owls won their Wednesday’s contest against Plymouth State despite an early deficit.
Panthers junior midfielder Colin Claflin scored the first two goals of the game before junior midfielder Bryan Rotatori scored twice to tie it up for the Owls. Senior attack Tyler McKelvie then netted another goal to give the Owls a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Owls went on a 5-0 run with junior attack Tyler Reilly and sophomore midfielder Hunter Arnold both scoring with a man-up. In addition, sophomore attack Frank Bacarella scored to make the game 6-2. In a man-down situation of their own, the Owls thrived with McKelvie shooting for a goal followed by an unassisted tally from sophomore attack Paul Beling, making the score 8-2 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Owls continued their offensive momentum with goals from Arnold, Reilly and Rotatori. Junior attackman Mac Tetreault scored the Panthers’ first of the half before the Owls struck back with goals from sophomore attack Mitch Hale and Rotatori. With the score 13-4 at the start of the fourth quarter, Arnold and McKelvie both scored again before the Panthers scored five of the last six goals. Both sophomore goalkeeper Mathew Howe and senior goalkeeper Alex Sharp played one half each with Howe starting the first half and Sharp once again finishing in the second half. Howe had two saves in the first while Sharp ended with seven in relief.
The Owls defeated the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs to finish their road trip and advanced their winning streak to seven.
Tim Smith / Photo Editor
The KSC men got out to a dominant lead, outscoring the corsairs 8-1 in the first quarter. Rob Hart and Reilly both scored in the first minute just seconds apart. The Corsairs soon responded with a goal from senior attackman Bo Prozinski who scored unassisted. The Owls exploded offensively to finish the quarter with Reilly and McKelvie scoring two goals each, followed by Rotatori and Hart each netting one.
The second quarter began with two goals from McKelvie putting the Owls up 10-1. But the Corsairs rallied, cutting the lead down to 10-6, scoring the last five goals of the half. Prozinski and sophomore attack DJ Miller scored twice with senior midfielder Tyler Prentice scoring a goal as well to complete the run for UMass.
Beling then reignited the offensive attack for the Owls in the second half as he scored the first goal of the half on his own before dishing an assist to Hart. Prentice struck back with a goal, but Beling erased his tally with another goal of his own.
With the Owls leading 13-7 to begin the fourth quarter, the Owls continued to dominate by scoring the first four goals of the quarter. In the midst of the Owls closing run, Rotatori scored his second of the game with Bacarella scoring one minute after in an unassisted fashion. Hart and Reilly then scored before the Corsairs attempted a rally once again with goals from Prentice and senior attack Steve Merrick.
To finish off the game, Beling and McKelvie scored to complete the offensive effort for the Owls. UMass scored once more to make the final score 19-10, giving the Owls the victory. Howe and Sharp split time once again as Howe finished with six saves in the first half while Sharp finished with four in the second. McKelvie ended as the high-point man for the Owls with five goals and an assist, giving him a total of 13 goals combined in the last two games.
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com