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STETSON, Fla. – Kennesaw State scored six unanswered goals in the first 7:30 of the contest to take early control of the game as the Owls won their school-record ninth contest of the season on Saturday afternoon thanks to a 19-10 road victory at Stetson in the ASUN Conference opener for both teams. With their fifth straight victory, KSU moved to 9-4 overall with its fourth straight win over the Hatters in the all-time series, which is now 5-4 in favor of the Owls.
KEY PLAYERS: The senior duo of
Siena Gore and
McKenzie Jackson outscored Stetson's entire team, as the two finished with six goals apiece. Gore also added a career-high tying three assists, while Jackson's six-goal day was a career-best for her.
Natalie Welch meanwhile notched her first career hat trick with three scores.
Julia Weiss played the first half in goal and faced 11 shots on goal while allowing just four scores and posting a season-high tying seven saves.
THE RUNDOWN: It was the Jackson show to start the afternoon. She notched the Owls' second, third and fourth goals in a three-and-a-half-minute span, putting KSU up 4-0 at the 9:03 mark of the first. Two more scores over the next 90 seconds put the Owls up 6-0. After allowing the first goal of the day, KSU added two more goals at the end of the quarter, including Gore's second, for an 8-1 edge.
Stetson did make a run in the second quarter with a 3-1 rally to close within 9-4 with 7:24 on the clock. Weiss would not allow a score the rest of the half, and in fact the KSU defense gave up just one total goal over the next 21:18 of the contest. Gore meanwhile scored three goals during that span to put the game out of reach as the Owls took a 16-5 edge with 3:02 to play in the third.
QUOTEABLE: "We came out with a bang today, consistently winning draws and building a solid lead. Offensively our ball movement was impressive. Notably, I think McKenzie stepped up big today with her scoring especially in the first half. Defensively, our goal was to hold them to 10 goals or under and we did just that. I thought it was a big team win today to start conference play." -
KSU head coach Laura Maness.
NOTES
-Gore, the nation's leading scorer, only added to that mark Saturday as she now has 64 goals on the season. She also posted nine points to give her 79 for the year after entering the afternoon ranked second in that category in the NCAA.
-Also scoring for the Owls on Saturday was Jaxysn Schonewille with two goals, while Chessyln Lamar and
Hannah Barth had one each. Welch also notched a multi-assist day with two for KSU.
-The Owls held a 39-23 edge on shots and 29-20 on shots on goal.
-Draw controls were also in KSU's favor at 20-10, though the Hatters came up with 14 ground balls to 11 for the Owls.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will again be on the road in the state of Florida, as they will take on top-25 Jacksonville in an early showdown between two of the top teams in the ASUN. The game is scheduled for Saturday, April 9 with a 3 p.m. start.
