WESTFIELD, Mass. – Hailey Goldman made the most of her three shot attempts in the battle of the Owls for the Keene State College women's soccer team as she scored her first two collegiate goals less than four minutes apart to lift KSC to their first win of the season with the 2-0 victory over Westfield State University.
Records
- Keene State: 1-2-1
- Westfield State: 0-3-1
How it Happened
Both teams opened the contest with a shot on goal apiece over the first 10 minutes of action as Mady Harmon made a save in goal on Kaylee Cormier in the sixth minute for WSU, followed by KSC's freshman goalkeeper Michaela DiCiccio making a save in the 10th minute on Libby Puttick to keep the contest scoreless early. KSC had another scoring chance in the 14th minute as Cormier had a chance at an arching shot past two defenders and over Harmon, but it rang off the crossbar and stayed out as WSU caught a break for the moment. KSC continued to pepper Harmon in goal with five shots and a pair of corners over the next 13 minutes, including three from Elizabeth Tschudin, but of KSC's five shots as a team, only one was on target, coming from Tschudin, which Harmon saved in goal for WSU. Westfield State recorded their second shot on goal in the 31st minute, but Diciccio held strong by making another save in goal. After DiCiccio's save, Keene State returned on the attack over the next 10 minutes as Hailey Goldman looked for her first collegiate goal in the 35th minute, that Harmon denied, before Goldman found the back of the net on her second attempt in the 41st minute. From the Owls' back line Eleanor Leland sent a pass ahead to Kayla DiPasquale, who picked up her first career collegiate point on an assist to Goldman as she sent a pass across Westfield State's box to Goldman, who buried it into the net for her first collegiate goal to put KSC ahead 1-0 with 4:33 remaining in the opening half. After Westfield State tried to draw even shortly after, that DiCiccio denied, Goldman wasn't done yet in the opening half. After a pass from deep in KSC's defensive half, Goldman took a touch 50 yards out and after dribbling through WSU's defense, ripped a shot over Harmon into the back of the net from 25 yards out for her second collegiate goal to put KSC up 2-0 heading into the second half.
Tschudin looked to add to her first goal of the season in KSC's last contest with the Owls' first shot on goal in the second half in the 57th minute, but Harmon denied her the chance to limit KSC's lead to two for the moment. Both teams traded opportunities over the next few minutes as Lorelai Whalley had a shot hit the crossbar for WSU and Mikayla Ryan had a pair of shots for KSC, with the one of the two shots coming on target being saved by Harmon in goal. WSU recorded their first shot on goal in the second half in the 65th minute as Allison Gough made her first save in net for KSC after entering as the Owls' goalie at halftime. Gough made another save in goal for the Owls a few minutes later, before Ryan continued to fire her shot attempts for KSC on the other side of the field over the next six minutes with two shots with one being blocked and the other being saved by Harmon. The rest of the way Westfield State tried to do what they could to try to claw their way from the two goal deficit but three of their five last shot attempts missed the target and Gough held strong saving the other two attempts as KSC held on for the 2-0 victory for the Owls' first win of the season.
"It was a good win on the road, Westfield is usually a tough place to win but the girls got a done," said Owls' head coach Sarah Testo. "The win gives us good momentum heading into LEC play."
Inside the Box
- KSC moves to 19-9-1 in the all-time series between the two teams, having won the two most recent matchups, while shutting out WSU in the two most recent matchups.
- Keene State's win on the road at Westfield State was not only KSC's first win at WSU since 2017, but it was KSC's first time scoring at WSU since after being held scoreless in the three most recent matchups on the road in the series.
- Gough recorded four saves in her second half of action for KSC, while DiCiccio saved all three shots she saved in the opening half for the Owls.
- Harmon made seven saves in goal for WSU over her 90 minutes in goal.
- KSC had the edge on shots and shots on goal with 19 shots to 14 from WSU, to go with nine shots on target to seven from WSU.
- Keene State also had the slight edge on corner kicks, 5-4.
- Tschudin tied Puttick for a game-high of five shots in the contest, while they each recorded two shots in goal apiece.
Up Next
Keene State is back on the road for their next contest as the Owls travel to take on Eastern Connecticut State University as KSC kicks off Little East Conference play on Saturday, September 12, at 1:00 PM.
Westfield State also returns to action on Saturday, September 12, but at 4:30 PM as the Owls host Fitchburg State University.
