'KEENE, N.H. 10/18/05 - Trailing 2-0, Western New England College scored four unanswered goals to defeat Keene State College 4-2 in a battle of nationally ranked men's soccer teams at Sumner Joyce Field in Keene on Tuesday afternoon.

Ranked 15th nationally and second in New England, WNEC (14-1) extended its winning streak to nine games while Keene State, ranked 19th nationally and third in the region, drops to 9-2-2.

Keene State scored two goals on its first three shots on goal.  Eric Scott (West Springfield, Mass.) scored on a corner kick 2:28 into the game to give the Owls an early 1-0 lead.  Alex Horne (Harvard, Mass.) extended KSC's lead to 2-0 when he took a through ball from Scott and beat Golden Bear goalie Chris Wilk (Derry, N.H.).

After Paul Russo (Dix Hill, N.Y.) was taken down in the box, Tim Larocca (East Longmeadow, Mass.) converted a penalty kick to make it 2-1.  Later in the half, Russo headed in a pass from Brian Dill (Portland, Conn.) to tie the score 2-2.

WNEC took the lead for good at the 60:41 mark of the second half when Scott Bullis (Barre, Vt.) finished off a feed from David Arcari (Burlington, Conn.).  Mike Schnepp added an insurance goal for WNEC late in the game.

KSC goalie Cal Mintz (Westport, Conn.) finished the game with three saves while Wilkes stopped two Owl shots.

Keene State returns to Little East play on Thursday (3:30 p.m.) when it travels to Eastern Connecticut.  Western New England plays at Suffolk University on Thursday (6 p.m.).