KEENE, N.H. – Sophomore forward
Katelyn Herbert (Bethpage, NY) is on fire, and because of that, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team stretched its unbeaten streak against Keene State College to four games Saturday by playing the Owls to a 1-1 draw in a Little East Conference match at Dr. Ron Butcher Field.
Herbert contributed a point to Eastern's (3-3-1, 0-1-1 LEC) fifth straight goal in the first ten minutes of the match to give an early lead to the Warriors, who could not build off it, however, and settled for the tie with Keene (3-2-3, 0-0-2 LEC) after posting wins over the former four-time LEC playoff champions in each of the previous three years. Eastern is unbeaten (6-0-2) against Keene in the last eight matches and is 8-2-1 in the last 11 matches in the series since dropping consecutive games in 2013.
Last year's second-leading scorer and a third-team All-LEC selection in her first year last season, Herbert has scored four times and assisted on one of the team's last five goals. This, after going scoreless on eight shots in the first four matches of the year. Her goal Saturday came in a 1v1 opportunity with goalie Sonia Moritz, beating the sophomore with a shot inside the right post.
Herbert is ranked in a tie for second in the LEC in goals.
Keene, which has lost more Little East games than it has won the last two years, gained the tie midway through the first half on senior midfielder Alexa Skinner's team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Eastern was coming off Wednesday's 1-0 home win over Westfield State University, which had beaten Keene, 3-1 on Keene's home field ten days ago.
Skinner, who had scored her team's lone goal against Western Connecticut on a free kick, picked up the ball in plenty of space, and unleashed a shot from fully 35 yards out that bounced off the crossbar and over the line.
Keene State pressed in the second half, with Eastern senior keeper
Emily Wallace (Smithtown, NY) keeping the game tied by saving Bryn Dickinson's shot. Later in the half, Giulian Stolfi rattled the crossbar from close range, but the ball bounced into Wallace's hands and was judged not to have crossed the goal line.
Wallace made four saves, Moritz two. In 450 minutes over six appearances, Wallace has a 0.60 goals-against average (third in the LEC) and .906 save percentage (second).
The tie was only the third in the 39-game series history dating back to 1996. The previous two ties finished 0-0 in overtime in the Little East championship games in 2003 and 2011, Eastern winning titles each time on penalty kicks (5-3 in 2003 and 3-2 in 2011) at top-seeded Keene. Since going 1-10-1 against Keene in the first 12 games of the series, Eastern is 18-7-2.
Eastern plays the second of five straight conference games Wednesday when it hosts Rhode Island College Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Rick McCarthy Field. Eastern leads the all-time series, 23-4-1, having won eight straight and 17 of the last 19 (the two losses in that stretch coming by 1-0 scores). At 6-1-1 overall and 2-0-0 in the LEC, Rhode Island is off to one of its best starts in program history. The Anchorwomen's fifth straight victory came Saturday in a 3-1 road win over Plymouth State University. RIC has allowed only two goals during its five-game win streak.
