Owls Grounded by Eagles 2-1 at Husson College Classic

BANGOR, MAINE 9/5/09 - The Keene State College women's soccer team dropped their first game of the season 2-1 against the host Husson College at the Husson College Classic in Bangor, Me., on Sunday afternoon.

The loss drops the Owls to 2-1 on the season while the victory improves the Eagles to 3-1 on the campaign.

The Eagles dominated play in the first half, out shooting the Owls 10-5 and scoring two goals. Alexandra Laniewski and Shelby Bradford each netted their fourth goals of the season at the 15 and 30 minute mark respectively to give Husson the 2-0 lead.

The Owls best scoring chance of the half came when  Molly Brunelle (Walpole, Mass.) hit the cross bar.  Nora Mahoney ( Belchertown, Mass.) played the rebound but Rozlyn Petersen made the diving save for the Eagles to keep the lead at 2-0 going into halftime.

In the second half, there were few quality scoring chances, but the Owls cut the lead in half with 37 seconds to play. After Mahoney was tripped inside the box, sophomore Shannon Hennessey ( Essex Junction, Vt.) took the penalty kick and fired it past Petersen to put Keene State on the scoreboard. But it would not be enough as the Eagles would run the clock out for a 2-1 victory.

Keene State Coach Denise Lyons said it was a dissapointing loss for her team. "We had several opportunities to score, but didn't take advantage of them,"

Meghan Dempsey (Weymouth, Mass) finished with seven saves for the Owls in the losing effort, while Peterson set aside six shots in the win.

The Owls return to the field, Wednesday, September 9th, as they will host Smith College for a 4:30 p.m. start.