GRANVILLE, Ohio (October 1, 2022) – Thanks to a pair of goals by Kristin Kelley less than two minutes apart in the third quarter, the Denison University field hockey team started off North Coast Athletic Conference action with a 2-0 home win over rival Kenyon College during Big Red Weekend.

After no shots or penalty corners from either team in the first quarter, Denison came out with a shot by Kelley in the first minute of the second quarter, and then Kenyon had the first two penalty corners of the contest two minutes later, leading to a trio of saves by Athena Joannou.

Joannou would have to make another save off a penalty corner in the 33rd minute, and then after the second penalty corner of the third quarter by the Big Red, Kelley stole the ball from Kenyon, crossed the blue line and fired a shot that went past the Kenyon goalkeeper to put Denison on the board in the 42nd minute.

Less than two minutes later, Denison made another penalty corner and an extra-player opportunity on the corner count as Grace Lock received the ball at the top of the box and passed it over to Kelley, who then fired the shot for her second goal of the period from just inside the blue line to make it 2-0 in the 43rd minute.

Denison, which was outshot 4-2 in the third quarter but made both of its chances count, added shots on goal by Madeleine Hunt and Nina Casingal in the fourth quarter against the new Kenyon keeper while the Big Red defense held the Owls to without a shot attempt or a penalty corner for the final 21 minutes of the game.

With the win, Denison (5-3 overall, 1-0 NCAC) remains undefeated at home on the season at 4-0 while Kenyon, which entered the contest with four shutout wins over its last five games, dropped to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

The Big Red will return to the field tomorrow to host Centre College in nonconference action at 11 a.m. on Sunday, October 2, wrapping up Big Red Weekend inside Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.