Saturday, Nov. 12, the Keene State men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Division III New England Regional Championships. The men finished in the top third for their race and the women finished in the top half.

The women’s team finished 15th out of 59 teams and the men’s team finished 22nd out of 56 teams. The women were led by senior Lindsay Szuch who finished in 45th place, the highest of her career. Szuch nearly made it to nationals, but came up about 20 seconds short.

For the men’s team, junior Phil Parent led the way, finishing in 63rd place and being the second runner in the Little East Conference (LEC) to finish the race.

The New England Championships brought an end to the season for both teams. For the season, the women won the LEC championship for the 17th consecutive year, and Lindsay Szuch was the individual conference champion. The women’s team also had four runners that made the All-Conference Team for the Little East Conference. KSC seniors Lindsay Szuch, Katelyn Terry and Alyssa Lombardi, as well as junior Rachel Klaski made the team. After the meet, Szuch talked about her team’s performance and said, “I think we did amazing overall. We had several girls run personal bests on the course, despite have been given one of the worst spots on the starting line.”

The men’s team finished second in the LEC and had two All-Conference Team runners. KSC junior Phil Parent and sophomore Iid Sheikh-Yusuf made the team. Senior Matt Dudley talked about the team’s performance  and said, “Overall, everyone did good. It wasn’t our best race, but everyone really gave it their all.”

Head Coach Tom Pickering also talked about the performance of both teams after the meet. For the women’s team he said, “Our women’s team had a very good team race on Saturday. It was a very strong region. Six of our seven runners had their best 6k race of the season.”

For the men, Coach Pickering said, “While our men’s team did not have the kind of race on Saturday that we had hoped for, they finished in about the same place relative to the two team’s they raced closely all season. I certainly do not think that there was any kind of effort let down.”

Mike Cerrotti can be contacted at Mcerrotti@kscequinox.com

On Saturday afternoon, the Keene State men’s soccer team faced UMass Boston in the final regular season game, which ended in a tie.

The first half of the game saw both teams with a lot of chances to score, but neither succeeded as they headed into halftime with a 0-0 tie.

Then with about 22 minutes left in the second half, first-year Glenn Smith was taken down in the box and the referee called for a penalty kick. Junior Promise Kpee stepped up and buried the goal, giving the Owls the lead.

Tim Smith/ Photo Editor

The lead didn’t last long, as a minute later off of a corner kick, senior Pedro De Carvalho scored for the Beacons, getting the assist from first-year Rafael DeSouza.

From that point on, both teams continued to battle, but the game ended in a tie. Overtime saw most of the same: a lot of action and both teams with chances to score. After two 10 minute overtime periods, the game ultimately ended in a tie.

For the Owls, Junior Jason Smith was in the net and had seven saves. Keene ended the game with three shots.

The Beacons were led by first-year Aidan Carter in net, who had two saves on the day. UMass Boston tallied eight shots on net for the game.

UMass Boston came into the game not only being on top of the LEC standings, but also ranked as the 12th team in the nation.

After the game, Owl’s coach Rick Scott talked about his teams performing against a stellar UMass Boston team and said, “Well, it’s a top 10 team in the country, but we battled with them, they gave me all that they had and they never let up.”

The Owls ended their season at 8-8, but unfortunately couldn’t make the Little East Championship tournament.

The Beacons will head into the LEC tournament as the number one team and will face Eastern Connecticut State University on Nov. 2.

Mike Cerrotti can be contacted at Mcerrotti@kscequinox.com

Wednesday night, the Keene State men’s soccer team defeated the Lasell College Lasers 7-0 to improve to eight wins,  four losses and one tie on the season.

The Owls jumped out to a two goal lead in the first five minutes of the game as junior Promise Kpee scored both goals, getting the assist from sophomore Matthew Povall.

Kpee scored the third goal of the game for the Owls, completing his hat trick for the night after being fed by fellow senior Conor Leahy. Leahy scored the fourth goal of the game as the Owls headed to half time with a commanding 4-0 lead.

Crae Messer/ Managing Executive Editor

The Lasers struggled, managing only two shots all night. Goalies Patrick McAvoy and Jackson Burhans combined for eight saves in the game.

Keene started the second half just as they ended the first; newcomer Cole Acocelli scored two goals getting the assists from fellow first-year L.J. Luster and Donovan Harris. First-year Luck Ndahigwa also added a goal.

Keene ended the game with an astonishing 15 shots on net. Goalies Jason Smith, Constantine Bouzakis and Michael Sancomb were all stellar in net for the Owls.

The Owls were able to get many players on the field that haven’t played much in the season thus far.

After the game, Head Coach Rick Scott talked about his team’s performance saying, “What was good about tonight is that we got to play everyone that we wanted to and the kids that haven’t played a lot did a very nice job.”

Coach Scott also talked about his team playing a full 90 minutes commenting, “Those kids are hungry to play and when they play, they want to impress you.” Next up for Keene State will be an out of conference game as they visit Tufts University on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Tufts has a record of five wins, three losses and one tie on the season. Lasell will visit Pine Manor College on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Mike Cerrotti can be contacted at Mcerrotti@kscequinox.com

During pass time between classes at Keene State, students may see each other smoking.

Smokers can often be found gathering around corners of buildings. It’s likely that everyone’s heard this before, “Smoking is bad! It causes cancer! You need to stop.” Despite those warnings from Middle to High School, a study by ABC News reported that 23 percent of college students smoked in the past year.

There are people out there looking to quit smoking.

KSC’s Health Center now has two ways to  aid in quitting smoking: the smoking patch and nicotine gum.

Samantha Moore/ Art Director

For those who are not familiar with the smoking patch or nicotine gum, this is a quick review on how they work.

With the nicotine patch, it’s recommended to start on the day one plans on quitting.

Begin by peeling the patch off the packaging and placing it on a hairless and clean part of the body.

The patch stays on for 24 hours, and then it can be taken off and replaced with a new patch.

The nicotine gum is simpler; all people have to do is chew.

Those who want to quit should start off chewing gum 15 minutes after a meal, then go on chewing for about an hour.

Keep in mind that you should talk with your doctor or someone at the Health Center before starting either option. They are more than willing to help students in need.

There are a couple of students who are already taking an interest in this offer from the Health Center.

First-year Cyril Farrar said that he smokes a pack a day and is trying to quit.

When he learned about the Health Center’s plans to help students, he said, “I think I’ll check this (Health Center) out.” Another first-year Aidan Tremblay said he spent about $40 a month on cigarettes. He was also interested in checking out the Health Center’s offer.

However, neither student knew of the Health Center and how they want to help students quit smoking.

There are other students who have heard of the Health Center’s initiative to stop smoking. First-year Ryan Goff said he’s been smoking for almost a year now.

He said, “People will come up to me as I smoke and tell me to go to the Health Center.” Ryan said he’s thought about quitting and may start soon.

First-year Cody Loweth has been smoking ever since he got to Keene. Cody says he wants to quit, but hasn’t made much of an effort either.

They both expressed worry that they should quit soon because they spend $40 a week on cigarettes.

Regardless of how long someone has been smoking, this can help smokers stop. First-year Mike Yard said he’s been smoking on and off for a about five years now.

He said that he smokes about two packs a week, but has tried cutting back.

Mike said, “I’ve tried stopping before, but those attempts haven’t worked.” Mike has expressed interest in going to the Health Center at some point to try and quit smoking.

Tiffany Mathews, who works at the Health Center, said the staff is working hard with Cheshire Medical Center to help students in need.

She said that several students have already taken advantage of this and she hopes more come seeking aid.

The program has already been talked about online and she hopes it will continue to spread.

She said, “We hope students help us spread the word about this evidence-based strategy so more people can become tobacco-free and start living a healthier life.”

Michael Fremeau can be contacted at mfremeau@kscequinox.com

The Keene State men’s lacrosse team doesn’t officially begin their season until the spring, but it already has a feel-good story on its hands.

For only the second time under head coach Mark Theriault, the Owls will have two brothers on the team for the 2017 season. Fifth-year senior Mike Wiedenfeld and his first-year brother David Wiedenfeld.

As a sophomore for the Owls, Mike tore his ACL just three games into the season.  He knew if he could get the chance, he would come back and play an extra year of lacrosse. He also knew that meant he could get the opportunity to play with his younger brother. Dave Wiedenfeld recalled visiting Keene, and once he knew he would get the chance to play with Mike, had a very easy decision to make. Dave said, “When I visited Keene with Mike, my whole mind changed and I really wanted to go here.”

While in high school, Mike played basketball and football, but one day was told by his football coach that he should try the lacrosse team. Well he did and fell in love with the game, passing that passion down to his brother. This year will be the first time the brothers will be on the same field together and they said they can’t wait. Both brothers commented, “ Yeah it’s going to be exciting, we’re really pumped.” Mike said, “We feed off each other; if he scores or I make a good play, it’s going to keep us going.” Mike plays defense and Dave is an attackman.

Tim Smith/ Photo editor

Mike will be wearing a different jersey than he has for the past five years, as he is going to pass his down to Dave. Mike said, “It’s cool that he decided to come up here, so yeah he gets my number [12].” Twelve is a number that they have both worn since they’ve been in high school.

Coach Theriault recalled getting the news about Mike coming back for another year and said, “I was excited; he’s a good guy, definitely a leader on the team. He’s one of those guys that will come into my office randomly to say hello.” Theriault also noted, “He’s always looking for other things to do off the field, and he’s well liked by the other guys on the team.”

Michael Cerrotti can be contacted at mcerrotti@kscequinox.com

Saturday, Sept. 24th,  the Keene State men’s soccer team faced off against the University of Southern Maine in a Little East Conference game in which the Owls won 8-0.

Junior Promise Kpee notch a hat-trick for the Owls, scoring all of his goals in the first half of the game. The first goal of the day came when junior captain Conor Leahy fed Kpee on a breakaway and scored. Kpee scored his second goal of the game and his third goal came off a penalty shot.

Junior captain Riley Steele also scored in the first half of the game with the assist coming from first-year Glenn Smith.

Keene then scored another four goals in the second half with two of them coming from newcomers Donovan Harris and Luck Ndahigwa. Junior Aidan Dean and sophomore Samuel Binogono also scored.

Southern Maine had a tough day on the field, managing to only get five shots on net all day. Goalies Simon Hulbert and Dalton Cassidy combined for nine saves throughout the day.

Jake paquin/ Equinox Staff

The Owls had an astonishing 17 shots and controlled the game for most of it. The Owls had all three goalies on their roster play and they notched five saves all together.

After the game, the Owl’s Head Coach Rick Scott talked about his team’s attitude going into the game saying, “These guys showed up to play today. Exactly one week ago, we went to Western Connecticut and didn’t show up and they handed it to us.” Coach Scott also talked about the team chemistry. He commented, “These guys like each other, they play for each other, and I believe if you don’t have good team chemistry, you won’t be successful.”

Next, the Owls will travel to Western New England University on Wednesday in a Little East Conference game. Southern Maine will also travel and play the University of Maine Farmington on Wednesday afternoon.

Mike Cerrotti can be contacted at Mcerrotti@kscequinox.com

Thursday night, the Keene State women’s volleyball team faced Johnson & Wales University in a match where the Wildcats won 3-0.

The Owls lost the first match 25-10, the second 25-20 and the third match 25-19. In the second and third sets, the Owls took an early lead, but couldn’t hang on as the Wildcats won some important points and never looked back.

Junior Rachel Lamica led the Owls with seven kills, while senior Brooke Hatanaka had five. Other highlights from the match included Riley Bunker who had 11 digs and Courtney Collins who came up with two blocks.

Jake Paquin/ Equinox staff

The Wildcats had contributions from their whole team, but the high-hitters were sophomore Emily Kalmink who had 12 kills for the night, first-year player Gianna Esposito with 19 digs and another first-year Maria Coniglio with three blocks.

After the game, the head coach of the Owls Bob Weiner talked about his team’s performance saying, “We didn’t lose this one; they beat us. They’re better than us. We’re really young and this group has not played together a lot.We’ve got a ways to go, but I’m not unhappy with what we did tonight.”

The loss brings the Owls to five and six on the season, and the Wildcats improve their record to nine and zero.

Keene will host UMass Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon in an Little East Conference (LEC) matchup. The Wildcats will also play Saturday as they travel to face Norwich College.

Michael Cerrotti can be contacted at mcerrotti@kscequinox.com