KEENE, N.H. (11/3/01) - Second half goals by Suzanne Heinkel (Westfield, N.J.), Celena Chickering (Keene, NH) and Jennifer Ortisi (Allenstown, N.H.) lifted the Keene State College women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over MIT in a ECAC Division III semifinal game in Keene on Saturday.

Top seeded Keene State advances to the Championship game on Sunday (3 p.m.) when it will host seventh seed Wellesley College. In the other semifinal game, Wellesley and sixth seed Babson College battled to a scoreless tie after two sudden-death periods. Wellesley finally prevailed 8-7 after three rounds of penalty kicks.

After a scoreless first half, Keene State's offense came alive. "MIT is a very fast team and because of their speed, they didn't allow us to play our game in the first half," said KSC Coach Denise Lyons. "I told the players they had to step it up and make it happen."

The Owls followed their coach's advice. After faltering on several corner kick opportunities earlier in the game, KSC finally found the right combination when Heinkel headed in a corner kick from Jessica Williams (Nashua, NH) 14 minutes into the second half.

"It was a perfect ball that came right to my head," said Heinkel, who has scored three goals in the Tournament. "The net was wide open and I just placed it right in. It was nice to finally capitalize on one of them."

Chickering made it a 2-0 game later in the half when she corralled a direct kick from Sarah Nordle (Hooksett, NH) and put the ball into the open corner for her seventh goal this season.

KSC goalie Michelle Mason, who finished with six saves, helped preserve the Owls' lead and her 13th shutout of the season, when she made a diving stop on breakaway shot by the Engineer's Monica Morrison with 10 minute to go.

Ortisi completed the scoring for the Owls with her eighth goal of the season, a shot into the top far corner, with five minutes to play.

Connie Yang finished the game with four saves for MIT, the fourth seed, who complete its season with a 14-6 record. It was the first meeting between the two teams and the Engineers first ECAC appearance.

Keene State will now set its sites on capturing its fourth ECAC Championship and its first title since 1993. " It's been awhile since we were in a ECAC final, back in the days when were playing on the turf field," Lyons said. "It would be nice to christen our new field with a championship.

Sunday will be the third meeting between Keene State and Wellesley College, which upset second seed Springfield and Babson to earn a spot in the finals. Wellesley defeated the Owls 3-2 in an opening round ECAC game at Keene in 1997.