Owls "Play 4 the Cure" on Saturday

          KEENE, N.H. 10/29/09 - There will be an extra color being worn at Owl Athletic Complex when the Keene State field hockey team hosts UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday (1:30 p.m.).  While the Keene State will be wearing their home red & white uniforms and UMass-Dartmouth suiting up in their away blue & yellow jerseys, both squads will be sporting a touch of pink to "Play 4 the Cure."

            Founded by Mystix Field Hockey (Pa.) Club founder and Coach Tina Reinprecht, the "Play 4 the Cure" movement was organized to benefit breast cancer research.  The Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research and awareness is the beneficiary of the events that included over 150 field hockey teams last year.

            Pink will be predominant on Saturday.  Keene State players will be wearing light pink socks while UMass-Dartmouth will go with the dark pink sock look.  Owl players will also be wearing pink warm-up  t-shirts and coaches will be sporting pink sweatshirts.

            Members of the KSC team are selling $1 tickets to the game that can be exchanged for a raffle ticket at the gate.  There will also be raffle tickets sold at the gate for the drawing that will be held at halftime.   Raffle prizes were provided by local businesses.

            In addition to selling raffle tickets around campus and the community, Owl players have been selling P4TC bracelets at the KSC bookstore.  There will also be a bake sale going on at the game with treats donated by families of the players.

            "Breast cancer is a disease that affects many families all over the country," said Allie Franklin, a senior member of the Keene State field hockey team.  "My grandmother is a 20-year double-mastectomy breast cancer survivor.  I look up to her greatly and feel that she is one of the strongest women I know."  

           Franklin said that many of the other players on the team have also had breast cancer touch their families and lives as well.  "We feel every woman's team should support this cause and stand behind all of the courageous women who have died from this disease, still fighting it, or who have come through it and survived."