Field Hockey Falls to Keene State in Little East Quarterfinals, 6-1

KEENE, N.H. -- Sami Smith netted her fourth hat-trick of the season to lead the No. 3 seeded Keene State College field hockey team to a 6-1 win over No. 6 seed Bridgewater State University in the quarterfinals of the Little East Conference Tournament at Owl Athletic Complex on Tuesday night.

Keene State, the two-time defending tournament champion, improves to 14-7.  Bridgewater State's season comes to an end with a record of 8-11.

The Owls will host No. 7 seed Worcester State on Thursday evening at 6 p.m.  The Lancers upset No. 2 seeded UMass Dartmouth, 2-1 in overtime earlier tonight.

That was not the day's only upset, as No. 8 seeded Fitchburg State eliminated top seeded Plymouth State 1-0 today.  The result, the first time in LEC history the No. 8 seed has beaten the No. 1, means the Owls remain the highest remaining seed and would host the LEC Championship game on Saturday, November 7, with a win on Thursday.

The other semifinal will see Fitchburg State travel to No. 4 seed Eastern Connecticut State on Thursday.

The game was scoreless until the 23rd minute, when Erica Stauffer tipped in Smith's pass past BSU goalie Kaylyn Allahyarian.

Bridgewater State tied the game less than three minutes later, as Kelsey Kiely slammed home her fifth of the year off an assist from Brittany Cullinane. KSC, however, was back in front 74 seconds later on a Julia Babbitt tally.

Stauffer got her second of the game in the 29th minute, and Smith scored in the 32nd and 34th minutes to send the Owls into halftime up 5-1.

Smith completed the hat-trick five minutes in the second half.  The junior now has 22 goals this season, tying the fifth highest single season total in KSC history.

Meaghan Dwyer played the first 49:30 and did not make a save. Gwendolyn Thayer also was not called upon to make a save in 20:30 of action in the second half.  The Owls outshot the Bears 26-4.

Allahyarian turned aside seven shots in a little more than 40 minutes of work. Allison Chappell kept the Owls off the board the rest of the way as she was forced to make just one save.