'KEENE, N.H. 11/05/02 - Annie Timson (Derry, N.H.) had two goals and Tanya Strong (Hatfield, MA,) added a goal and three assists to lead Keene State College to a 5-0 shutout victory over UMA-Dartmouth in a Little East Conference field hockey quarterfinal tournament game played Tuesday in Keene.

The second seed in the tournament, Keene State (14-7) advances to the semifinal round where they will face third seed Southern ME at Plymouth State (2:30 p.m.) on Friday.  USM advanced with a 1-0 win over #6 Bridgewater State.

Leading 1-0 on a first half goal by Timson, the Owls exploded for four goals in the second half.  Timson’s second goal of the game, and team-leading 15th of the season put KSC up 2-0.  Melissa Harnch-Smith (Newburyport, MA.) and Nichole Dallas (Marlow, N.H.) scored five minutes apart to make it a 4-0 game, and Strong completed the scoring with her ninth goal of the season.

“It took us awhile to get adjusted to playing on turf again,” said KSC Coach Amy Watson.  “After halftime we started talking and passing and it came together for us.”

The Timson-Strong connection sparked the offense.  “We seem to play awesome together,” said Timson.  “We always know where each other is on the field.”

“Annie and I really clicked tonight.,” added Strong   We had some great passing sequences .”

“Southern ME is going to be tough,” said Watson.  They have a great goalie, so where going to have to have some offense.”

Amy Carroll (Brunswick, ME) had four saves and Michelle Codding (Jerico, Vt.) played the final 11 minutes in goal to share the shutout for KSC.  Meaghan Apostolec (Plymouth, MA.) finished with eight saves for the seventh-seeded Corsairs, who complete their season with a 5-14 record.