KEENE, N.H. 10/13/07 - Junior forward Alex Horne (Harvard, Mass.) tallied a goal and two assists to lead Keene State College to a 5-0 Little East Conference men's soccer victory over UMass-Dartmouth at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday.

Fighting to move up in the LEC standings, KSC (6-4-4, 2-2-1 LEC) undefeated in its last six games, moved into fourth place in the conference. The top four teams qualify for the tournament.

"We had to have this game or our season was over in terms of the conference," said KSC Coach Ron Butcher.  "We decided to put in an attacking formation for the first 15 minutes and go right at them.  It obviously paid off.  I think we caught them by surprise.  We're not done yet. We have a long way to go."

The five goals are the most KSC has scored in a game this season.

UMD (10-3-1, 2-2-1 LEC) saw its three game winning streak come to an end.

The Owls didn't waste any time getting on the board.  Taking a cross from Mike Cooley (Northborough, Mass.), Horne drove a shot into the far corner to give KSC a 1-0 lead 1:30 into the game. It was his team leading sixth goal of the season.

Horne said the team played with a sense of urgency.  "We haven't played well in the league this season," he said.  This is where it counts.  We came to play.  Everyone knew what they had to do."
 

Corsair forward Adam Rolfe (Southwick, Mass.) was set up in front at the 10:29 mark, but Owl goalie Cal Mintz (Westport, Mass.) made a diving, point-blank save.

Cooley extended KSC's lead to 2-0 at 15:40 when he took a lead pass from Stephen Attardo (Braintree, Mass.) and put the ball into the top corner.

Mintz denied another a couple of scoring bids by UMD's Leo Soares (Dartmouth, Mass.) later in the half. 

Caleb Patterson (Barrington, N.H.) put KSC up 3-1 at the 55:48 mark of the second half. Horne crossed the ball to a wide open Patterson on the left side.

KSC back Ross Stanton (Bethlehem, N.Y.) preserved KSC's shutout when he headed cross away from the goal with Mintz out of position. Two freshmen added goals for KSC late in the game. Matt Johnson (Walpole, N.H.) scored at the 72:34 mark when he headed in a crossing ball from Horne and Cam Blair (Keene, N.H.) completed the scoring at 86:09.

Mintz stopped eight shots to post his fourth shutout of the season.  UMD goalie Kyle Fossey (Townsend, Mass.) finished with 10 saves.  Chris Reagan (Franklin, Mass.) played the final six minutes without registering a save.

KSC hosts WNEC on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.).  UMD is off until next Saturday when they host Plymouth State (1 p.m.).