Championship Saturday at Keene State
KEENE, N.H. 11/6/09 - Keene State College will host a pair of Little East Conference championship games at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday. Looking for its sixth consecutive crown, the top seeded Owl field hockey team will face second seed UMass-Dartmouth at 12 p.m. Making its first trip to the finals since 2006, the top-seeded Keene State women's soccer team will go up against Eastern Conn., the second seed, in a game scheduled for 1 p.m.
Winner of both games will receive the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship tournament.
Keene State and UMass-Dartmouth rolled into the finals with impressive wins in the early rounds. Riding a season-long eight game winning streak, the Owls (18-4) defeated eighth seed Salem State (5-1) and fourth seed Framingham State (3-0) while the Corsairs (14-6) blanked seventh seed Plymouth State (5-0) and third seed Fitchburg State (4-0).
Saturday's game will be a rematch of the hotly-contest season finale between the two teams that saw Keene State, thanks to a penalty shot save by goalie Vikki Stoessel in the closing seconds, hang on for a 3-2 victory over UMD.
Keene State Coach Amy Watson expects another barn-burner on Saturday. "They're a great team," she said. "We're going to have to go out there and put our best game on the turf and see what happens."
Senior back Erin Dallas knows the Owls must do a better job of keeping the high-powered Corsairs offense in check. "We just need to work on our positioning and mark up before they reach the circle," said Dallas. "It's an easy fix."
The game will feature two of the LEC's top sharp-shooters. Keene State's Carly Benning (26-3-55) tops the conference in scoring following by the Corsairs Stephanie Kinchla (21-5-47).
The Owls have history on their side. Keene State owns a dominating 16-1 series advantage against UMass-Dartmouth in LEC play, outscoring the Corsairs 50-11 during that span. The Corsairs' lone win (3-1) came last season in North Dartmouth. The two teams met in the 2006 conference finals with the Owls winning 2-1.
The women's soccer championship game between Keene State and Eastern Conn. is expected to be just as competitive. The Owls (14-5-2) earned a berth into the finals with a 2-0 shutout victory over fourth seed Western Conn. The Warriors (11-5-3) advanced with a 4-0 win against third seed UMass-Boston.
The Owls needed an overtime goal by sophomore Sia Karamourtopoulos to outlast the Warriors (2-1) in a regular season overtime battle back on Sept. 26.
There's not much to choose between the Owls and Warriors. Both teams have a premiere scorer. Keene State's Katie Bradford (14) and ECSU's Sarah Swam (13) are second and third respectively in the LEC in goals scored while the Owls' Megan Dempsey (0.92 GAA, 6 SHO) and the Warriors' Kim Church (0.91 GAA, 3 SHO) are two of the top goalies in the LEC.
"It's always a close game when we play them and I‘d be surprise if it isn't another one on Saturday," said KSC Coach Dense Lyons.
"One of the goals on our list at the start of the season was to win the LEC's," said senior back Jaclyn Grant. "Hopefully, we can check that off on Saturday."
Keene State, which is making its eighth trip to the finals, won LEC titles in 2002 and 2004.
Keene State and Eastern are no strangers in tournament play. The two teams met in three consecutive finals 2003-05. In a scoreless 2003 title game, ECSU was award the title on penalty kicks. The Owls came back to win (3-0) in 2004 while the Warriors took the 2005 crown (2-0). The conference championship game appearance will be the third straight and sixth in the last seven years for ECSU. A winner of two conference championships in 2003 and 2005, Eastern has dropped 2-1 decision to Western Connecticut each of the last two years.