Owls Fly Past Vikings 10-2

KEENE, N.H. -- Vanessa Yavorski (Georgetown, Mass.) and Jillian Danton (Arlington, Mass.) each notched a goal, but Keene State was too much in pulling away for a 10-2 victory over Salem State on Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex. The Vikings are now 0-6 and 0-4 in the Little East while the Owls improve to 7-1 and in the conference.   

Eight different players had points for Keene State as the Owls improved to 3-0 in league play with the lopsided victory.  KSC was on the board just 1:32 in when Erica Stauffer set up Bruno for her first tally of the afternoon.  Keene State has scored first in seven of eight games this season.  The lead was doubled less than three minutes later when Julia Babbitt found the back of the cage off a feed from Ally McCall.  After being denied twice in quick succession, Bruno again found the back of the net at the 11:28 mark as KSC went up 3-0.  The Vikings parlayed three corner opportunities into an 18th minute goal from Vanessa Yavorski to trim the deficit to two, but the Owls never lost control of the game.  Bruno completed the hat trick late in the first half, scoring off a feed from Nicole Mercadante at 30:44.  She added a fourth for good measure with 26 seconds left as the Owls took a 5-1 lead into the break.  KSC outshot Salem State 18-2 in the stanza.

The second half was more of the same, as McCall and Mercadante scored within 1:34 of each other as KSC led 7-1 in the 40th minute.  The marker for Mercadante was her first collegiate goal.  It didn't take long for her second, either, as she scored unassisted at 46:58.  Leading by seven, the Owls got another pair of goals in quick fashion, as Hannah Pike scored her own first career goal in the 52nd minute and Stauffer converted on a penalty stroke just 31 seconds later as KSC broke into double-digits.  A goal from SSU's Jillian Danton at the 54:35 mark set the final margin.

Rachel Loseby got the start in goal for Keene State and improved to 7-1 after making one stop.  Tess Whitney and Jordan LaRaus also saw time in the cage for the Owls.  Kelli McCarthy (Foxborough, Mass.)played the first half for the Vikings, making eight stops before being relieved by Kaitlyn O'Shea (Ledgewood, N.J.).