KEENE, N.H. 10/30/10 – The Keene State men's soccer team captured its second straight Little East Conference regular season championship with a 4-1 victory over the University of Southern Maine during Senior Day at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday.

            Keene State (12-4-2, 6-0-1 LEC), which concludes its regular season with a four game winning streak, will be the top seed in the upcoming LEC tournament and host a semifinal game against fourth seed UMass-Dartmouth on Wednesday (6 p.m.)           

            Southern Maine concludes its season with a 4-12-2 overall record and 3-4 mark in conference play.

            The Owls, who would have been the top seed regardless of today's outcome, wanted to finish the regular season with a victory.  

            "If we lost it would've been a shared title and we wanted to be the only team to win the championship," said Luke Sisco, one of the six KSC seniors honored before the game. "UMass-Dartmouth is the only LEC team to beat us in the last two years, so we're chomping at the bit to play them."

            Senior forward Nick Johnson (South Portland, Me.) gave USM a 1-0 lead a the 16:46 mark of the first half when he took advantage of a KSC give-away in its own end  and put the ball into the far corner of the net.

            Keene State tied the score less than two minutes later.  Junior back Kevin Gomes (Halifax, Mass.) sent a crossing ball to the far corner that freshman midfielder Tom Izykowski (Rexford, N.Y.) headed home for his first career goal.

            Senior midfield Brian Holmes (Sharon, Mass.) netted the eventual game winner for KSC at the 32:06 mark with his third goal of the season.  Sophomore back Kyle Leavitt (Plymouth, Mass.) set up the goal with a crossing ball into the box. "I've been working on crossing and shooting and it paid off today," said Holmes, who finished the game with a goal and an assist. "You can't ask for anything better on senior day."

            KSC added two insurance goals in the second half with sophomore forward Nick Greenwood (Peterborough, N.H.) and senior midfielder Matt Johnson (Walpole, N.H.) scoring their first goals of the season.

            Controlling play throughout the game, Keene State outshot the Huskies 21-5 and had a wide 11-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities.

            Both teams used two goalies in the game.  Junior Paul Blackmer (Boylston, Mass.), who played the first 78:27 and senior Tom Conran (South Windsor, Conn.) didn't register at save for the Owls.

            Senior David Kreps (Agawam, Mass.) started in goal for USM and made four saves.  Sophomore Jeremy Turner (Portland, Me.) played the final 4:31 and wasn't credited with a save.

            Prior to the game, Keene State honored its six seniors:  Rob Musto (Guilford, Conn.), Ryan Murphy (Monson, Mass.), Conran, Johnson, Holmes, and Sisco.  "I'm happy for all the seniors.  They all got into the game and played well," said KSC Coach Ron Butcher.  "You want the seniors to end their careers with a championship. Hopefully we can get that done."