Keene, N.H. 11/9/11—Junior forward Joan Hamel (Weare, N.H.) propelled the Keene State College women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over the Norwich University Cadets in the ECAC New England Tournament Quarterfinals, on a cool, foggy Wednesday night at Owl Athletic Complex. 

With the victory the Owls improve to 14-7-2 on the season and advance to the tournament semifinals to face St. Joseph's College (CT) in Worcester Mass., on Saturday.

"We had a lot of scoring opportunities but it was frustrating that we weren't finishing," said KSC head coach Denise Lyons. "Sort of the story of our season struggling in the final third of the field. Joan was one of our many injured players but she was able to get a beautiful goal in the second half."

The Cadets (11-5-3) looked to get on the board early when they were awarded a corner kick just forty-eight seconds into the game was sent in to the foot of sophomore Grace Fitzpatrick was blocked away by the Owl defense guarding the net.

The Owls had a slow start, but at the 20:57 mark, freshman Kelly Burrell (Cumberland, Maine) ripped a shot wide on a pass from sophomore Kara Pavlidis (Lee, N.H.) who dribbled the ball through three Cadet players.

With fifteen seconds remaining in the first half, sophomore Jessica Berthiaume (Worcester, Mass) received a pass from freshman Amy Jose (Oakland, Maine) on a breakaway, to have her shot turned away by Cadet goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy.

Owl pressure continued at the 45:54 mark of the second half when they earned a corner kick and sophomore forward Hayley Kenyon (Exeter R.I.) headed the ball on net but the shot was stopped by Kennedy.

The Owls had another opportunity at 57:30, when  junior midfielder Elise Bolster (Narragansett, R.I.) made a long run with the ball up the right side, but again Kennedy made a nice save as she stepped out to stop the ball.

The Owls finally found the back of the net on their twenty-eighth shot of the contest when senior Sia Karamourtopolous (Fremont, N.H.) carried the ball through Cadet defenders in the midfield and found Hamel streaking up the right side, and Hamel buried the ball in the back of the net with 13:12 remaining.

Both goalkeepers had solid games in net, Senior goalkeeper Megan Dempsey (East Weymouth, Mass.) recorded four saves and Kennedy recorded thirteen saves for Norwich.

The Owls out-shot the Cadets 36-6 in the match.

Keene State will look to defend its two-time ECAC championship this weekend as the remainder of the tournament will be held at Worcester State University on Saturday and Sunday.

(Release Courtesy Kevin Butler)