KEENE, N.H. 4/14/08 - Junior goalie Jen Gearing (Westfield, Mass.) made a career high 17 saves to lead Keene State to a 12-9 non-conference women's lacrosse victory over Colby-Sawyer College at Owl Athletic Complex on Monday afternoon.

Keene State (8-4) extends its winning streak to five games with the victory.  Colby-Sawyer falls to 3-8.

After scoring 20 or more goals in their three previous games, the Owls needed a strong defensive effort to turn-away the Chargers.  Gearing made several key stops late in the game.  With the scored tied at nine-all, Gearing stopped a free position shot by senior Lisa Giordano (Londonderry, N.H.). The Owls got possession and scored a transition goal with senior Lanaya Nelson (Chester, N.H.) feeding freshman Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Me.) for the go ahead goal at the 19:44 mark.

Freshmen Jenny Lillis (West Islip, N.Y.) and Jamie Albert (Southington, Conn.) netted insurance goals later in the half.           

The Owls' Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.), this week's LEC rookie of the week, scored just 13 seconds into the game.   KSC scored the last four goals of the first half to go up 7-3 at the break.

After Kirk's third goal of the game put KSC up 9-6, Colby-Sawyer netted three straight goals with a free position tally by senior Tara Stewart (Londonderry, N.H.) tying the game at nine-all with 12 minutes to play. 

Gearing and the Owls defense kept the Chargers off the board the rest of the game.  "I'd rather play a high-pressure game when I'm on my toes rather than a game when I'm not seeing shots at all,' said Gearing, an LEC all-star last season.  "The defense in front of me played real well and stepped up big today." 

"Jen saved us," said KSC Coach Michelle Mason.  "She was solid back there."

Offensively, Sawyer shared top goal scoring honors with Kirk with three goals.  Kirk leads the team with 32 goals. Lillis and Albert had two each and senior Michelle Mazzotta (Cromwell, Conn.) and sophomore Dene Tully (Peabody, Mass.) had single goals. Nelson finished the game with four assists.

Stewart finished with a game high six goals for the Chargers.  Giordano, Alicia Murphy (North Bennington, Vt.), and Deb MacEachern (Billerica, Mass.) had one goal each.

Sophomore goalie Alicia Foss (Hardwick, Vt.) made 13 saves for CSC.

Keene State hosts Smith College on Thursday (4:30 p.m.).  Colby-Sawyer returns home to face Roger Williams on Wednesday (4 p.m.).