KEENE, N.H. 10/20/01 - The Keene State College men's soccer team clinched first place in the Little East Conference and the top seed in the upcoming Tournament with a 2-1 victory over UMA-Dartmouth, Saturday at Owl Stadium Complex.

It was the eighth straight win for KSC (13-3, 6-0 LEC), who will get a first round bye in the LEC Tournament. UMA-Dartmouth (11-4, 5-1 LEC) suffered its first conference loss of the season. The Owls scored two quick goals in the first six minutes of play. Taking a centering pass form Jason Lombardo (Woburn, MA.), John Harke (Leeds, MA.) gave KSC a 1-0 lead 46 seconds into the game when he drove a shot over UMD goalie Jorge Fonseca (Ludlow, MA.).

Minutes later, Casey Banks (Westborough, MA.) gave the Owls a 2-0 lead when he finished a crossing pass from Mike Monteiro (Hudson, MA.). It was the third goal of the season for Harke and eighth of the year for Banks.

KSC had several opportunities to increase its lead later in game, including an open net missed by Francisco Vasconcelos late in the first half.

D.J. Nordmark (So. Windor, CT), who finished with three saves, lost his shutout bid in the closing minutes when James Smith (No. Darmouth, MA.) scored for the Corsairs. Adrian Gonsalves (Somerset, MA.) had an assist on the play.

Fonseca, who had 11 saves, made several sparkling stops for UMD including a diving saves off the foot of Robby Carson and a header by Jason Hickman in the first half.

'In the first half we had an opportunity to go up five or six to nothing and put the game away,' said KSC Coach Ron Butcher. 'But we missed some open nets. We came out tentatively in the second half and instead of having a great game we had to hang on for the win. The tournament comes here now and that's nice to play at home,' he added. 'It makes it a lot more easier.'

Playing in their final home regular season game, seniors Colm Kennedy, Mark Bailey and Robby Carson (Gofftstown) were honored prior to the game.

Keene State will be on the road Monday with a makeup game at Salem State (7 p.m.)