DANBURY, Conn. 10/29/11 – Playing in a late-fall snowstorm, the Keene State College women's soccer team went on the road and defeated the Western Conn. State University Colonials 2-0 on Saturday afternoon to clinch the program's sixth Little East Conference regular season championship and first since 2009.

"It feels great to come away with such a huge victory," said KSC head coach Denise Lyons. "There is no superstar on this team, everyone practices hard, plays hard and they are united group of girls. This has been one of my favorite groups to coach because of their level of commitment and I am so proud."

 With the victory the Owls improve to 13-7 on the season and more importantly 7-0 in conference play assuring Keene State home field advantage throughout the tournament and a first-round bye. "We have worked hard for home field all year because we love to play on grass," said Lyons. "But also, for our seniors to go out and have the tournament be at home, in front of our fans, means the world to us."

"We know the conference tournament is going to be a battle," said senior defender Melissa Dempsey (East Weymouth, Mass.). "For it to be home, on our grass where we play so much better is what we wanted."

 The Owls will await the winner of the #4 UMass Boston versus #5 UMass Dartmouth quarterfinal game from Tuesday and play at Owl Athletic Complex on Thursday night.

The Colonials drop to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in the LEC and will be the #3 seed and host #6 seed Plymouth State University at The WAC on Tuesday.

Saturday's game was played under heavy snow from beginning until the referee called the game at the 75 minute mark. "It started to snow when we got off the bus for warm-ups," said KSC senior goaltender Megan Dempsey (East Weymouth, Mass.). We just had to forget about the conditions and come out and play smart soccer."

Freshman midfielder Alex Haley (Laconia, NH) put Keene State on the scoreboard in the 35th minute of play when she was left open at the top of the box. A quick feed from sophomore forward Jessica Berthiaume (Worcester, MA) set up Haley's shot that sailed over the outstretched hand of WestConn keeper Caitlin Avery (East Hampton, CT) and into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. "It felt really great to score that goal," said Haley. "It was very evenly matched up until that point and it felt awesome to do it for the seniors."

Just 3:52 into the second half, Berthiaume added an insurance goal when she took advantage of Avery's unfortunately slippage in the goal mouth. Berthiaume deposited her team leading ninth goal after sophomore forward Hayley Kenyon's (Exeter, RI) initial shot drew Avery off her line.

Dempsey made four saves in the victory for KSC, while Avery turned away six shots for the Colonials in the losing effort.