KEENE, N.H. 10/30/07 - Third seed Keene State scored three first half goals and hung on for a 3-1 victory over Six seed University of Southern Maine in a Little East Conference women's soccer tournament quarterfinal game played Tuesday night at Owl Athletic Complex.

It was the fourth straight win the Owls (12-7-1), who will play second seed Eastern Connecticut in a semifinal game on Thursday in Wllimantic.  KSC has reached the finals the past eight years. Southern Maine concludes its season with a 7-11 record.  

Kendra Spencer (Petoskey, Michigan), Renee Halsey (Francestown, N.H.) and Jaclyn Grant (Newington, Conn.) found the back of the net for the Owls in the first half.

Spencer gave Keene State a 1-0 lead at the 20:35 mark of the first half.  Spencer high drive from 25-yards was ruled a goal when USM goalie Mindy Morneault (Winterville, Me.) made the save, but fell back into the net.

Halsey made it a 2-0 game five minutes later. The senior forward got control of a loose ball in front and scored her third goal in the last three games and eighth of the season. 
 

Grant concluded the first half scoring at the 35:38 mark. The sophomore back was at the right place at the right time when the ball bounced off a couple of Husky defenders to Grant who knocked the ball into the net. 

USM got on the board at the 73:08 mark of the second half.  Lila Dunham-Conway (Standish, Me..) broke in from the left side and sent a short crossing ball to Natasha Levandowski (Portland, Me.) who netted her seventh goal of the season.

"It was nice to get the home win, be we need to play a better overall game if we have any chance at Eastern Conn," said KSC Coach Denise Lyons.

Samantha Hirsh (Holliston, Mass.) finished with three saves for KSC.  Morneault, who stopped 11 shots, made several fine saves for USM in the second half, including point-blank stops on the Owls' Michelle Boland (Worcester, Mass.)  Molly Brunelle (Walpole, N.H.), and a diving save off Sasha Daniels (Hillsboro, N.H.) in the closing seconds of play.