KEENE, N.H. – Plymouth State was defeated 14-10 Wednesday in a tough battle against conference rival Keene State. The loss drops PSU to 8-3 with a 4-2 record within the Little East Conference. Keene State clinched the conference for the fifth straight time with the win, and jumped their record to 12-2 with a perfect 6-0 record in the LEC.
KSC took the early lead in the first quarter scoring four unanswered goals before Plymouth Junior Brett Miller (Windham, NH) found the back of the net off Ty Long’s (Dover,NH) distribution. Plymouth cut the score in half when Junior Chris Annunciata (Waltham, Ma) shot his first of three goals. With the score close, Keene wanted more. At the end of the quarter, the Owls capitalized on two more goals making it 6-2 in favor of Keene.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, Chris Annunciata scored another goal, to once again cut the score at 6-3. The score would be the one and only goal of the quarter for the Panthers, as Keene State plastered the back of the net five more times, forcing the score to be a lopsided 11-3 going into halftime.
Coming out of halftime KSC was still feeling the fire. The Owls scored with in the first minute and made the score 12-3. Chris Annunciata scored his third goal for Plymouth after Mike Ventura gave him a dazzling assist. After another Keene State goal, Ventura sniped one of his own. Plymouth was fortunate at the end of the third quarter when both Zach Frank (Wakefield, Ma) and Stephen Patch (Newbury, NH) scored. The score stood at 13-7 moving toward the final quarter.
Early in the 4th KSC’s Taylor Jette shot his third goal of the day increasing the Owl’s lead. Plymouth felt the comeback near the end when Zach Frank scored two goals in a row. With less than two minutes in the game and one final rush PSU’s Nick Morello brought one in unassisted, but it proved to be too late. The score would remain final at 14-10.
PSU finishes up the regular season this Saturday in a 1 o’clock away game against UMass Dartmouth. Keene puts their undefeated conference mark on the line when they travel to Western Connecticut for a 3 p.m. game.