GORHAM, Maine 4/26/08-- Keene State bid for second place in the Little East Conferecne fell short with a 18-15 women's lacrosse loss to Southern Maine in Gorham on Saturday.

The Owls, who slip to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in LEC play, will need to defeat UMass-Dartmouth at home on Sunday (3 p.m.) to secure the third seed in the upcoming LEC tournament.

Freshman Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Maine) and senior Lanaya Nelson (Chester, Conn.) led the Owls offense with three goals apiece. Freshmen Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) and Jenny Lillis (West Islip, N.Y.) and sophomore Dene Tully (Peabody, Mass.) each scored twice. Junior Jen Gearing (Westfield, Mass.) finished with 15 saves.

Trailing 7-6 at halftime, the Owls scored three of the first four goals in the second half to take their only lead of the game, 9-8, when Lillis scored her first goal of the game with 24:32 to play. Jessica Knight snapped the tie 58 second later, then combined with Kristy Kendrick to scored a pair of unassisted goals 22 seconds apart for an 11-9 USM lead. The teams traded goals over the next four minutes. Keene State closed to within one, 13-12, on a goal by Nelson with 15:15 to play, but Kendrick took over for the home team scoring three consecutive goals to push the USM lead to 16-12 with 8:08 left. Keene State never got closer than three the rest of the way.

Kendrick (Waterboro, Maine/Massabesic) scored seven goals to lead the University of Southern Maine .

Senior goalie Katie Quartuccio (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Millbrook School) stopped 19 shots.