UNION, N.J. 9/1/01 - Freshman Jason Lombardo's (Woburn, MA.) goal 4:33 into the game stood up as the game winner giving Keene State College a season-opening 1-0 victory over Fredonia State at the Cougar Invitational at Kean University on Saturday.

The Owls will face host Kean in the Championship game of the Tournament on Sunday at 2 p.m. Kean shutout Wilkes (Pa.) University 2-0 in the other opening round contest.

Lombardo's goal was a fine individual play. The freshman forward stole the ball from a Fredonia defender just outside the box and then beat goalie Adam Flanders to the far side.

Both goalies came up with big saves in the game. The Owls' D.J. Nordmark (So. Windsor, CT), who finished with three saves, kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard with two key stops in the second half. Flanders finished with five saves for Fredonia, including a diving save off the foot of KSC's Casey Banks (Westborough, MA.) in the second half. Lombardo and Francisco Vasconcello also had good scoring chances for KSC.

The physical contest included two ejections and seven yellow cards. With 25 minutes to go KSC lost the services of Lombardo when he picked up second yellow card of the game. Ten minutes later Fredonia's Derek Contestato was issued his red card, and the teams played at even strength the rest of the way.

'It was your typical fast paced first game, ' said KSC Coach Ron Butcher, who singled out the play of Nordmark and freshman Luke Trill (Northfield, MA.) in the game. 'Now we have to settle down and play soccer.'

Keene has lost and tied Kean in their two previous meetings. They last played in 1998 when the Courgars edged the Owls 2-1 in a game played in Keene.