Keagins, O'Keefe Pace UNH over Holy Cross
from press release
WORCESTER, Mass. – Kate Keagins (Bay
Shore, N.Y.) scored three goals and Kathleen O'Keefe (Chatham,
N.J.) made six saves to lead the University of New Hampshire
women's lacrosse team to Wednesday afternoon's 8-5 non-conference
victory against the College of the Holy Cross at Hart Turf
Field.
This marked the third consecutive year UNH has won its season
opener. The Wildcats have opened against Holy Cross five of the
last seven years and are 4-1 in those meetings. Holy Cross is
winless in two games this season.
Keagins, whose three goals led the 'Cat attack, also recorded two
ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control. Ilana
Cohen (Andover, Mass.) contributed two goals, two GB and two CTO.
UNH's other goal scorers were Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn.),
Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md.) and Allie Duclos (South Windsor,
Conn.), who was also credited with three ground balls.
HC goalie Amy Martin was credited with two saves.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead at 16:13 of the first half when
Simpson rolled from behind the net around the right post to the
front of the net and fired a shot into the upper-left corner.
HC tied the score, 1-1, at 13:25 when Kat Sutton one-timed Cassie
Rudden's pass from behind the net.
UNH scored three consecutive goals to build a 4-1 advantage. Duclos
scored on a free position from the left wing at 11:36 to put the
'Cats back in front, 2-1. Keagins scored a free-position goal at
9:05 when she charged from the right wing and fired a low shot
inside the far post.
O'Keefe preserved that two-goal lead with six minutes remaining in
the first half when she denied Meg O'Leary on a free position from
the top of the fan.
Keagins struck again on a free position – this time on a low
shot from the top of the fan – to give New Hampshire a 4-1
lead at 3:15.
One minute later, O'Keefe appeared to be caught out of position
when Sara Hennessey caught the ball at the left doorstep but she
lunged towards the upper-left corner to make the save. The
Crusaders did trim the deficit to 4-2 on Taylor Zebrowski's
free-position goal at 1:48.
Cohen scored with 48 seconds remaining in the first half to send
the Wildcats into halftime with a 5-2 lead. From the top of the
fan, she maneuvered to the right side and fired a low shot inside
the far post.
Neither team scored in the opening 12 minutes of the second half
– O'Keefe made another impressive point-blank stop against
Catherine Furman at the right post with 20:00 on the clock --- then
Holy Cross scored three goals spanning seven minutes to once again
level the score, 5-5.
Zebrowski started the comeback with an unassisted goal at 17:25,
then O'Leary (at 12:56) and Annie Boylan (10:26) scored on
free-position shots.
Holy Cross gained possession on the ensuing draw control –
the Crusaders had a 12-3 edge in that statistic – and O'Keefe
kept the game deadlocked at 9:45 when she denied Maddie Carrellas'
shot from the middle of the fan.
At the other end of the field, Keagins rang a shot off the post.
The teams exchanged possessions and UNH regained the lead at 5:31
when Cohen attacked from the left wing and sent a low shot into the
net.
After the Crusaders won the ensuing draw, O'Keefe forced a turnover
in which Duclos won the battle for the loose ball. Rausch, deep on
the right wing, drove towards the net and place a shot into the
upper-right corner to give the 'Cats a 7-5 lead at 3:52.
HC once again gained possession on the draw, but Cara Dowdle
(Northbrook, Ill.) got the ball back for UNH with 3:15 remaining.
Keagins' third goal of the game at 1:34 put the 'Cats ahead 8-5 to
match the team's largest lead of the game.
Casey Doyle (Ivyland, Pa.) helped secure the victory when she
corralled a ground ball with 1:00 on the clock. The 'Cats advanced
the ball into the attack zone and maintained possession to run out
the remaining time.
In addition to the edge in draw controls, the home team also
recorded a 21-15 shot advantage. UNH finished with more ground
balls (19-14) and committed fewer turnovers (15-18).
New Hampshire returns to action Feb. 26 (12 p.m.) at Dartmouth
College. The Wildcats' home opener is March 2 against the
University of Massachusetts. Game time at Memorial Field is 4
p.m.
