Keene, N.H. 9/1 /09- Led by Carly Benning's (Brewster, Mass.) two first half goals, the Keene State College field hockey team opened its season with a 4-0 victory over RPI on Tuesday night at  Owl Athletic Complex. Senior back Erin Dallas (Marlow, N.H.) completed her miraculous comeback from a life-threatening post operative infection with two defensive saves to ensure the shutout.

"It's nice to start the season off with a win," said KSC Coach Amy Watson. "It was great to get out there and play. Having the early lead allowed me to play a lot of different combinations."

After RPI controlled the tempo for the first few minutes, Benning, an All-LEC forward, netted her first goal of the season off a pass from Aislynn Sherry (Rehobeth, Mass.) to give the Owls the 1-0 lead a the 7:02 mark.

Less than three minutes later, Benning tallied her second goal of the game, this time off a pass from freshman midfielder Alexandra Billert (Center Conway, N.H.) to extend the Owls lead to 2-0.

With just over 12 minutes remaining in the half, Dallas perserved the lead at 2-0 when she reached out and made a spectacular one-handed defensive save. "It was great timing," said Dallas. "I was in the right place at the right time and I'm just glad I can help on the defensive side of the field."

In the second half,  Jacki Benson (Hampstead, N.H.) made it a 3-0 game with an assist going to Sherry at the 50:26 mark.

Six minutes later the Owls would put the finishing touches on the game when Sherry found the back of the net. Chelsea Blackmer (Boylston, Mass.) got an assist on the goal.

Vikki Stoessel (Berry, N.H.,) and Meghan Ledoux (Standish, Maine) combined for the shutout.  Stoessel made five saves in over 59 minutes of action while Ledoux stopped three shots by the Engineers.

"Overall it was a great win for us," said Watson. "Our forwards did a nice job tonight. Hopefully Benning and company will continue to be able to find the net.

Watson was pleased with Dallas play on the backline.  "Erin has never really played the position on a permanent basis, so it was nice to see what she was to able to do."

Dallas admitted it was different playing defense for the first time in her career. "I've always played forward or midfield," she said. "I've helped out on defense but I never played just defense. It was hard for to resist the temptation of running up and playing offense, but I'm just happy to help the team out."

The Owls return to action Thursday, September 3 when they will host Castleton State College in a 6 p.m. game.