KEENE, N.H. 10/16/10 – Senior midfielder Brian Holmes (Sharon, Mass.) scored two goals to lead Keene State College to a 6-1 victory over UMass-Boston in a Little East Conference men's soccer game played at Owl Athletic Complex in Keene on Saturday.

The Owls, who maintain their lead in the LEC standings, improved to 9-4-2 overall and 4-0-1 in the LEC.  UMass-Boston falls to 4-9 (1-4 LEC).

Holmes scored the first two goals of the game.  His first one came at the 8:55 mark when he deposited a crossing ball from senior Luke Sisco (Pine Plains, N.Y.) inside the post.  His second, a shot from the top of the box, came at 23:39.

"The last few practices, Coach (Ron) Butcher has been telling us to stop thinking and start shooting and today I just fired away and good things happened," said Holmes, who netted his first two goals of the season. 

"After scoring just two goals in our last five games, we needed a game like this to get our confidence back," said Butcher.  "It's nice to see Holmes get a couple of goals because our outside midfielders haven't scored much this year."

Freshman Bryce Lawlor (Woodbury, Conn.) sent in sophomore Joe Senecal (Manchaug, Mass.) for the Owls' third goal of the game.  It was Senecal's team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Keene State added three more goals in the second half with junior Alex Larson (Williamsport, Penn.), and freshmen Scott Douglas (East Greenwich, R.I.), and Mike Mulhall (Delmar, N.Y.)  finding the back of the net.  Senior Cam Blair (Keene, N.H.) set up Douglas' goal while Mulhall's goal was his first for the Owls.

The Owls lost their shutout bid at the 64:10 mark of the second half when sophomore UMB's Victor Costa (Malden, Mass.) redirected a free kick by senior Alex Cavallero (Lenox, Mass.) past KSC senior goalie Tom Conran (South Windsor, Conn.).

KSC had a wide advantage in shots (21-5) while both teams had three corner kicks.

Conran played the first 74:39 of the game and made one save.  Freshman Malcolm Cheney (Hopkinton, Mass.) played the final 15:21 of the game and made a terrific save in the closing minutes of play when he went airborne to deny a scoring bid by Beacon freshman Stefanos Galouzis (Watertown, Mass.).

Sophomore Brycen Dowd (Mansfield, Mass.) stopped three shots for the Beacons.

"We treat every LEC game like a playoff game and came out and got it done today," said Holmes.

Keene State hosts Framingham State in a non-conference game on Wednesday. UMass-Boston returns to action at Plymouth State next Saturday.