KEENE, N.H. 11/5/01 - The Keene State College men's soccer team will be hitting the road to play in this year's NCAA Division III Tournament. The Owls, who received a first-round bye, will face Norwich University at Saint Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., this Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

"I'm not surprised as to whom we play, but I am surprised we got moved out of the region to Siberia," said KSC Coach Ron Butcher. "Obviously I would have liked to stay in the New England Region, but maybe it's good that we get to play a team who never saw us play."

Host and top-seed St. Lawrence University will play the winner of Wednesday's first-round game between Cortland State and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Northeast region's other semifinal matchup. Saturday's winners will play in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Ranked 19th nationally and third in New England, Keene State earned the Little East Conference's automatic bid with its 5-0 victory over rival Plymouth State in Sunday's Championship game. It is the Owls' second LEC title in the past three years.

Entering the tournament with a 13-game winning streak, Keene State (18-3) will go up against an undefeated Norwich (20-0) team, which captured the Great Northeast Conference Championship with a 1-0 win against Western New England College on Saturday.

The two teams haven't met since 1998, when the Owls routed the Cadets 10-2 in the Diadora Soccer Classic. "They're a much different team now," Butcher said. "The scouting report is that they're a very solid squad."

This is the third straight year the Cadets have advanced to the NCAA Tournament. They lost a first-round game to Plymouth State (3-1) last season.

Keene State will be making its seventh appearance in the Tournament and its fourth trip in the past five years since joining Division III in 1997. Since that time the Owls have advanced beyond the first round just once - in 1999. They defeated Roger Williams University (5-2) before losing to Salem State (1-0) in a New England Region semifinal game.

"We're going out there with the idea of getting to the next level," Butcher said. "But it's going to be tough. At this level in the Tournament if you make one or two mistakes good teams will take advantage of those errors and bury you."