(Box
Score)
KEENE, N.H. - Sophomore attack Jill Kirk (Port
Jefferson Station, N.Y) scored five goals Thursday afternoon to
lead second-seed Keene State College to a 13-7 victory over rival
and third-seed Plymouth State University in a semifinal game of the
Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament at Owl Athletic
Complex.
Keene State (11-7), which extended its winning streak to a
school-record seven games, will travel to Willimantic to face top
seed Eastern Connecticut State in Saturday's Championship
game. The Warriors blanked fourth-seed UMass-Dartmouth 16-0
in their semifinal contest. Plymouth State concludes its season
with a 6-9 record.
Kirk scored the first two goals of the game as KSC jumped out to an
early 3-0 lead. After junior Kalie Judd
(Peabody, Mass.) put PSU on the board, Keene State tacked on two
more goals to go up 5-1. After freshman Nicole
Grover (Yarmouth, Maine) tallied another one for PSU, KSC
scored the final two goals of the half to take a 7-2 lead into the
locker room.
The Panthers netted four consecutive goals coming out of the
break. The fourth one was a man-up goal scored by sophomore
Michaela Rice (Weirs Beach, N.H.) that cut the
Owls lead to 7-6 at the 15:09 mark.
Returning to the field after serving a penalty, Kirk fed sophomore
Missy Luzzi (Oakland, N.J.), who put the Owls ahead 8-6. KSC put
the game away by scoring the next four goals to make it a 12-6 game
with just four minutes to play.
Sophomore Emily Persano (Somers, Conn.) finished with three goals
and an assist while sophomore Jenny Lillis (West Islip, N.Y.)
scored twice and had a helper. Junior Dene Tully (Peabody,
Mass.), and senior Molly Corcoran (Concord, N.H.) also scored goals
for KSC and sophomore Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Me.) dished out
three assists.
Judd finished the game with three goals and two assists to lead
PSU, which was again without leading scorer Taylor
Cambal (Yarmouth, Mass.). Grover scored twice and
freshman Brianna Davis (Framingham, Mass.) chipped
in with a goal for the Panthers.
Senior Jen Gearing (Westfield, Mass.) made 10 saves for the
Owls. Freshman Michelle Leonard (Hopkinton,
Mass.) stopped nine shots for PSU in just her second game in goal.
Keene State, which won a pair of close games against Plymouth State
(12-10 and 15-12) during the regular season, registered its first
tournament victory against PSU in five meetings.
KSC will be making its second trip to the LEC finals. They
lost to PSU 9-5 in the 2004 championship. KSC lost to Eastern
14-13 earlier in the season.
(Courtesy of Keene State Sports Information)
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