'KEENE, N.H. 11/02/05 - Senior midfielder Matt Cusack (New Milford, Conn.) had three goals and an assist to lead fourth seed Western Connecticut State University to a 4-1 upset victory over top seed Keene State College in a semifinal Little East Conference Tournament men's soccer game played Wednesday at Sumner Joyce Field.

Western Conn. (13-4-2) advances to the championship game where they will play second seed R.I. College, who tied third seed Plymouth State (1-1), but advanced in penalty kicks.  RIC is making its first trip to the finals while WCSU, the 2003 LEC champs, will be making their third appearance.

The defending champion Owls (12-3-3) will await a possible berth in the ECAC Tournament. KSC won the LEC title in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2004.

KSC scored the first goal of the match before WCSU netted three unanswered goals.  Taking a feed in the box from Eric Scott (West Springfield, Mass.), Ralph Rocco gave the Owls a 1-0 lead 1:28 into the game.

The Colonials tied the game four minutes later on a shot by Cusack that found the right corner of the net.  Cusack gave WCSU a 2-1 halftime lead with 14 seconds remaining in the half when he headed in a cross from Bill Goncalves (Shelton, Conn.).

Western Conn. added two insurance goals in the second half.  Cusack scored his third of the game and 14th of the season, at the 66:50 mark and Bradley Fidler (West Lawn, Pa.) completed the scoring with his 15th goal of the season on a break away.

Cal Mintz (Westport, Conn.) and Matt Caron (Amston, Conn.) each played a half and made two saves each for KSC.  Daniel Michalowski (Bristol, Conn.) finished with three saves for WCSU.