GORHAM, Maine  --  Freshman Matt Johnson (Walpole, N.H./Fall Mountain Regional) snapped a 1-1 tie with six minutes left in regulation time to give the third-seeded Keene State College Owls a 2-1 victory over the second-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference men's soccer tournament match Wednesday afternoon at the USM Soccer Field.
  

The victory extends the Owls unbeaten string to 11 matches (9-0-2) and improves their overall record to 11-4-4.  The Owls advance into Saturday's championship final at Eastern Connecticut State University.  Eastern Connecticut, the top seed in the four-team, single-elimination tournament, earned the right to host the final by beating fourth-seeded Rhode Island College, 1-0, in the other semifinal. KSC and ECSU played to a 1-1 ties earlier in the season.
       

The Huskies, making their first-ever appearance in the LEC postseason tournament, slip to 10-8-1 overall.
      

Johnson, who came on as a substitute in the 74th minute, converted a pass from rookie Phil Petrozzi (Gilford, N.H.) into a six-yard shot for his third goal of the season.  Petrozzi made a nice run along the right end line before sliding a pass across the six-yard box to Johnson, who netted his fourth goal of the season.

After a scoreless opening half, the Owls got on the board first when senior Caleb Paterson (Barrington, N.H.) outraced a defender to a floated pass over the USM back line by junior Ben Allenet (Lanfains, France) and beat USM sophomore goalkeeper David Kreps (Agawam, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) from about 12 yards out.  The goal came in the 51st minute.

Southern Maine got the equalizer nine minutes later when junior Sinisa Bajic (Belgrade, Serbia) tapped in the rebound of a shot take by senior Eddie Weddington (Augusta, Maine/Cony).  Weddington's shot hit the right post and bounced back across the goal to Bajic who touched it home for his 11th goal of the season.
   

KSC Coach Ron Butcher said the Owls were fortunate to get the win.  "We did it with smoke and mirrors," said Butcher, who will lead the Owls into the finals for the sixth time.  "Southern Maine is a tough place to play, but we never stopped fighthing.
   

The Owls, who lost to the Huskies 1-0 back on Sept., 15 were playing without several key players.  Stephen Attardo was serving a susprension for receiving a red card against Middlebury, Jeremy Kelsey was out with a broken hand, and back Nathan Gaughan was nursing a bad back and played sparingly.  KSC revamped backfield of Ryan Farnsworth, Trevor Holmes and mainstays Gabe Bergeron and and Ross Stanton held of the Huskies.
    

Kreps played an outstanding match in the USM goal making 10 saves.  Senior Cal Mintz (Westport, Conn./Staples) had six saves for Keene State.  His best stop came late in the opening half when he got to a bouncing header from sophomore Peter McHugh (Portland, Maine/Scarborough).
 

The Owls out shot the Huskies, 14-8, and had an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks.