Two Owl Teams Win NCAA Tournament Berths

From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Keene State field hockey and women’s volleyball teams hit the road this week for their opening-round NCAA Division III tournament games.

The Owls captured their fifth-straight Little East Conference field hockey championship on November 1 with a 4-0 win over rival Plymouth State. KSC also won LEC titles in 1998 and 1999. Junior midfielder Erin Dallas, who was named the tournament’s MVP, had a pair of goals and an assist in the finals.“We were fired up to play in the championship game,” said KSC Coach Amy Watson, who earned her 250th career victory. “This team came a long way this season.” (The Owls lost 1-0 to Springfield College yesterday in the NCAA first round.)

The Keene State women’s volleyball team won a five-game cliffhanger over UMass-Boston 3-2 (30-28, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25, and 17-15) to win their first-ever LEC championship on November 2. Facing a 7-1 deficit in the fifth and deciding game, the Owls rallied to pull off the dramatic victory.

“We were down 7-1, but I didn’t see us going down like that,” said KSC Coach Bob Weiner. In his fourth year on the Keene State bench, Weiner felt the key play in the final game came when Sarah Peterson sacrificed life and limb, diving to make a match-saving dig. “We popped the ball up and we turned around and scored on it,” he said. “That was the turning point. We weren’t going to lose after that.”

“It was a perfect ending to a perfect season,” said junior setter Jordan Pokryfki, whose parents made the trip from Alaska to take in the tournament. “We were down in the fifth game and nobody gave up. I thank every single member of the team for that. We’ve been dreaming about this tournament the whole year and, even though we were behind, we weren’t going to let it slip away from our fingers. We wanted it so badly.”

Courtesy photos: KSC field hockey and women’s volleyball teams