KEENE, N.H. 5/6/10 – The fifth seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies upset top ranked Keene State in the semifinal round of the Little East Conference Tournament on Thursday evening at Owl Athletic Complex. The Huskies tallied five unanswered goals, capped by senior Jessica Knight's (Alfred, Maine) marker with three seconds left for the 10-8 victory.

The Huskies will be making their second trip and will be looking for their first ever Little East Conference Championship. In 2008 the Huskies made their first appearance in a 17-10 loss to the Eastern Conn. State Warriors.

 Knight started the scoring in the semifinal, with a strike just over a minute and a half into the game to give USM a 1-0 lead.

KSC fought back, rattling off four straight goals to take a 4-1 lead, topped off by sophomore Sarah Valacer's (Towsend, Mass.) unassisted score with 10:59 remaining in the first half.

After USM attack Mary Vaughan (Brunswick, Maine) netted a free-position shot goal, Owl  midfielder Jamie Albert (Southington, Conn.) found a slashing Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) to beat the Huskies goalie and take a 5-2 lead.

At the 5:58 mark, Knight found freshman Lauren Santo (Salem, N.H.), to cut the KSC lead to 5-3.

The Owls would take a 6-3 lead into the break on Albert's first goal of the contest with 3:42 left in the half.

USM again started the scoring in the beginning of the period, with Vaughan's second score of the game, at the 28:19 mark.

Less than 20 seconds later, KSC hit the board with Albert's third tally of the game to make it 7-5 in favor of the home team.

At the 23:43 mark, the Owls netted their last goal of the game, when freshman Nicole Curry (Hampstead, N.H.) scored on a pass from junior Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Maine) to give the Owls an 8-5 lead.

The Huskies, led by junior midfielder Jessica Martineau's (Yarmouth, Maine) three straight goals, went on for the 10-8 victory.

The trio of Knight, Martineau and Vaughan each tallied three goals to lead the way for USM. KSC was led by Albert and Curry, who each totaled three points on two goals and an assist.

KSC goalies Meghan Ledoux (Standish, Maine) and Alyssa Marinaccio (Narragansett, R.I.) split time in net. Ledoux made two saves in the first half and allowed three goals, while Marinaccio stopped five shots and gave up seven goals in the second-half. Southern Maine goaltender Samantha Kiesel (Lakeville, Mass.) played the entire game making 13 saves and allowing just eight goals in the win.

With the Eastern Conn. State Warriors upsetting the second seeded Plymouth Panthers, the Huskies will travel to ECSU for the LEC Championship game.