KEENE, N.H. 9/20/08 - The Keene State men's soccer team began its Little East Conference schedule on a down note, a 5-0 shutout loss to the University of Southern Maine at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday.

            KSC (2-3-2, 0-1 LEC) fell behind early and never recovered as the Huskies (5-2-1, 1-0 LEC) scored goals on its first four shots on net.

            Southern Maine, which scored all their goals in the first half, didn't waste any time getting on the board scoring two goals in the first four minutes of action. 

            Off the kick off, sophomore midfielder Alex Burnham (North Yarmouth, Me.) knocked in a crossing ball from senior midfielder Greg Cox (Brookline, Mass.) just 47 seconds in the game.

            The Huskies went up 2-0 three minutes later when Cox settled a pass from senior forward Sinisa Bajic (Belgrade, Serbia) and scored into the left corner of the net.   Senior midfielder Ben Slagle (Scarborough, Me.) made it a 3-0 game when he headed home a crossing ball from Bajic at the 24:03 mark.

            Junior midfielder Peter McHugh (Portland, Me.) and sophomore forward Nick Johnson (South Portland, Me.) completed the five-goal half for the Huskies.  McHugh's goal came after a mix-up in the Owls' backfield and Johnson scored on a header.

            In between goals, Owl senior goalie Scott Panone (Wolcott, Conn.), who took over in the net for junior Peter Kersker (Beverly, Mass.), made a diving save on McHugh.  

            Minutes into the second half, Keene State was awarded a penalty kick after a foul in the box.  Senior forward Alex Horne's  PK attempt sailed high over the net.

            Later in the half, Horne had a second chance to get the Owls on the board, but his header clanged off the cross bar.

            Kersker started in goal for KSC, but didn't record a save.  Panone played the final 52:40 minutes and finished with two saves.

            USM junior goalie David Kreps (Agawam, Mass.) made five saves to record his first shutout of the season. 

            It's the second year in a row USM has defeated KSC in the regular season. After dropping a 1-0 regular season game last year, the Owls returned to Gorham and defeated the Huskies 2-1 in a LEC semifinal contest.

            KSC, which has been shutout in its last two games, is at Worcester State on Wednesday (7 p.m.). 

            Southern Maine is at Thomas College on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.).