'KEENE, N.H. 10/19/02 - The Keene State College men's soccer team scored two first half goals and then held off R.I. College for a 2-1 Little East Conference victory at Owl Stadium Complex on Saturday.

Undefeated in its last five games, KSC improves to 9-4-2 (2-1-1 LEC) while R.I. College falls to 10-4  (2-1 LEC) and suffers its first conference loss of the season.

Mike Monteiro (Hudson, MA.) gave KSC a 1-0 lead at the 11:46 mark when he put in a rebound following a shot by Jason Lombardo (Woburn, MA.)  Chris Barker (Pembroke, N.H) extended the Owls' lead to 2-0 late in the fist half when he also scored on a rebound of a shot by Joey Amaio (Wethersfield, CT). It was Monteiro's third goal of the season and the fifth for Barker.

A physical game that featured six yellow cards and one red card, KSC played the last 30 minutes of the game short-handed when Dermott O'Sullivan was issued a red card.  Taking advantage of the man-up situation, RIC finally got on the board at the 71:17 mark when Kyle Teixeira (Warren, R.I) scored his 14 goal of the season on a through ball from Matt Borges (New Bedford, MA.).

D.J. Nordmark (South Windsor, CT), who finished with a seven saves, made several key stops on anchormen corner kicks late in the game to preserve the Owl victory. RIC goalie Jason Nelson stopped five KSC shots.

Keene State hosts Eastern CT in a LEC contest on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.).