Box Score Keene State Holds Off Southern Maine 18-13
KEENE, N.H. -- The Keene State College women's lacrosse team jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening 14 minutes and held off the University of Southern Maine to post an 18-13 victory in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Keene State finished the regular season at 8-8 overall and 4-2 in conference play. The Owls will be the third seed for the upcoming Little East Conference Championship Tournament. The Huskies dropped their second straight game to finish the regular season 9-7 and 2-4 in LEC play. USM will be the fifth seed in the upcoming tournament.
Junior Chelsea Lewis (Londonderry, N.H.) scored twice in a span of 24 seconds to ignite the Owls' initial outburst. Rookie Ali Daisy (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) and sophomore Erica Chareth (Amherst, N.H./Bishop Guertin) added single goals and sophomore Tess Masci (Hopkinton, N.H.) scored twice as the Owls opened up a 6-0 lead.
Rookie Alex Farley (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle) put the Huskies on the board at 15:52 converting a free-position attempt. Junior Aliza Jordan (Gorham, Maine) followed up 18 seconds with the first of her six goals in the game.
After a goal by KSC senior Tori Weinstock (Brookfield, Conn.) made it 7-2, Jordan scored three straight goals to pull USM back within two (7-5).
Over the final 10 minutes of the half, the Owls outscored the Huskies 3-1 to take a 10-6 lead into the halftime break.
Early in the second half, USM received goals from sophomore Allison Irish (Lyman, Maine/Massabesic) and Jordan to creep back within three (11-8). From that point, the teams traded goals with the Owls going up four and the Huskies cutting the deficit to three over the next 15 minutes leaving the Huskies down three (15-12) with 9:23 to play.
Keene State broke the trend with goals from junior Emily Parker (Gilford, N.H.) and Masci to go up five with less than five minutes to play. Jordan and Masci traded markers in the final three minutes to account for the final tally.
Jordan matched her career high for points (9) in a game scoring six goals and dishing out three assists. She also had six ground balls, eight draw controls and four caused turnovers. Junior Colleen Fleming (South Portland) records a hat trick and collected six draw controls. Irish had two goals and sophomore Ruth Nadeau (Bath, Maine) had a goal and two assists. Junior goalie Hala Van Nostrand (Granby, Conn.) made eight saves.
Masci and Chareth led a balanced Owls' offense with four goals apiece. Lewis had three goals and two assists. Daisy had two goals and one assist, and senior Taylor Farland (Fiskdale, Mass./Tantasqua) had a goal and two assists. Junior goalie Anna O'Brien (Winchester, Mass.) stopped nine shots.
Southern Maine will travel to fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for a first-round game in the LEC tournament on Tuesday. Keene State will host sixth seeded Western Connecticut.
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