KEENE, N.H. 11/1/07 - Karen Robinson (Phillipston, Mass.) scored on a corner play with no time remaining in regulation to give top seed Keene State College a dramatic 3-2 victory over fourth seed Bridgewater State College in a semifinal game of the Little East Conference field hockey tournament in Keene on Thursday night.

Keene State (17-5), which extended its winning streak to eight games, will face second seed Southern Maine in Saturday's championship game at Owl Athletic Complex at noon.  USM edged third seed Plymouth State 3-2 in overtime in the other semifinal game.

The Owls were unsuccessful in three prior corner opportunities before Robinson found the back of the net.  "I looked up to see where their goalie was stand and I just hit it as hard as I could," said Robinson, who has 10 goals this season. "We didn't want the game to go into overtime.

"We had a lot of corner opportunities and weren't able to put all the pieces together," said KSC Coach Amy Watson.  "Finally at the end it all came together. "Karen has the hardest shot on the team and she came through tonight." 

Special teams were the difference in the game with all five goals coming off corner plays.

The two teams trade corner goals midway through the first half. Junior forward Kelly Duchemin (Mashpee, Mass) tipped the ball past Owl sophomore goalie Vikki Stoessel (Derry, N.H.) to give BSC a 1-0 lead the 15:27 mark.

Amy Dolce (Windham, N.H.) tied the game less than two minutes later with a shot from the left side of the net.

KSC took a 2-1 lead on another successful corner play. Erin Dallas (Marlow, N.H.) took a feed from Alyssa Rowell (Queensbury, N.Y.) and one-timed a shot past BSC goalie Nicole Downs (Hanover, Mass.).

The Bears tied the game at 2-all on a corner play blast from inside the circle by sophomore defender Kelly Downs (Hanover, Mass.).     

Carly Benning (Brewster, Mass.) had a chance to give KSC the lead when she broke in alone, but Downs came out and smother her shot at the 27:19 mark of the second half.
With sister Nicole out of position, Kelly Downs made a defensive save on a shot by Robinson to keep the game deadlocked with 9:35 to play.

KSC had a several chances to take the lead in the closing minutes.  Benning's drive was stopped by Downs and a shot by Rowell went just wide of the post.

Keeping the ball down at the BSC end of the field, KSC, which was award 17 corners in the game, finally connected with no time remaining on the clock.

Stoessel finished the game with two saves for KSC.  Downs stopped four shots for the Bears (13-6), who were looking for their first trip to the finals.

The defending championship Owls captured tournament titles in 1998, 1999, and 2004-06.