Keene State Field Hockey Advances In NCAA Tournament
Kayla Renaud’s goal exactly 60 seconds into the game gave the Keene State College field hockey team a 1-0 win over Husson University in the First Round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Field Hockey championship at Owl Athletic Complex on Wednesday night.
The Owls (17-7) advance in the tournament for the third time in school history and will play No. 1 Bowdoin College at 11 a.m. in Brunswick, Maine. Husson sees their season end with a record of 8-10.
Renaud provided the only goal of the game when she picked up the ball at the top of the circle and rifled a shot that deflected off a Husson stick and over the shoulder of goalie Anne Marie Provencal in the first minute of the game.
From then on, it became a battle of the goalies; Husson’s Olivia Plaisted was denied by KSC’s Meaghan Dwyer, and Provencal made a diving double-stop on the Owls’ Sami Smith.
Provencal kept it a 1-0 game just before the half as she denied Smith again, and the rebound went wide.
Keene State poured on the pressure in the second half, earning eight penalty corners in the first 15 minutes of the half, but could not dent Provencal’s cage, as the junior denied Renaud and Mariah Barnett on back-to-back stops, then turned away Renaud and Casi Smith.
Dwyer, meanwhile, preserved her third shutout of the season by stoning Britt Mellor with 17 minutes to go, and sprawled out to save from Libby Kain with just 42 ticks on the clock.
Provencal finished with 12 saves, while Dwyer made four. Paige Hefferan had a pair of defensive saves for KSC.
The Owls will meet Bowdoin for the second time in NCAA play, having also played the Polar Bears (18-0) in 2011. KSC also advanced to the second round in 2013.
