MIDDLEBURY, Vt. 10/12/10 – The Keene State College women's soccer team fell to the Middlebury Panthers 4-0 in non-league action on Tuesday afternoon. Middlebury (6-2-1) entered the game ranked fourth in the latest New England poll, while Keene State (9-4-2) was in the ninth spot.

Annie Rowell scored the only goal of the first half for the Panthers, taking a feed from Drew Smith before quickly spinning and firing a shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

Middlebury took a 3-0 lead with a pair of goals from Scarlett Kirk just 6:05 apart in the second half. The goals were her fourth and fifth of the year after earning a hat-trick Saturday in Middlebury's win over Amherst. The first of the pair came when Julia Favorito served the ball to Nora Tomlinson-Weintraub, whose header was stopped by Keene State keeper Megan Dempsey (East Weymouth, Mass.). Kirk was there to bury the rebound at the 52:18 mark for a 2-0 advantage. Favorito set up the third goal, playing a nice through ball to Kirk at 58:23.

Trailing 3-0, Keene State came back with some offensive pressure on the Panther net. A corner kick from Joan Hamel (Weare, N.H.) found its way to the far post where it was cleared away from the goal by Kendrick Cambell. Minutes later, as blast from Bridget Hennessey (Essex Junction, VT) was tipped over the crossbar by Jocelyn Remmert to keep the shutout intact. Katie Bradford (Lebanon, N.H.) fed Melissa Dempsey (East Weymouth, Mass.) with 13 minutes remaining, as her header sailed just over the crossbar.

Middlebury scored the game's final goal at 68:58, when Hannah Newman converted a breakaway after a feed from Gabriela Curbelo-Zeidman.

Lauryn Torch (5 saves), Remmert (2 saves) and Elizabeth Foody (2 saves) combined for the shutout, while Megan Dempsey made five stops for the Owls in the losing effort.

The Owls return to action Saturday with a road LEC game against UMass-Boston at 1 p.m.

(Courtesy Middlebury Sports Information)