KEENE, N.H. 4/19/11 – After being tied 3-3 at the half, the Keene State College women's lacrosse team outscored the Plymouth State University Panthers 7-1 in the final stanza for the 10-4 Little East Conference victory Tuesday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.

With the victory the Owls improve to 6-5 on the season and 3-1 in conference play, while the Panthers drop to 6-5 and 2-2 in league action.

In a slow paced contest, Plymouth scored the first tally of the game at the 16:30 mark of the first half. The Owls won the opening draw control and senior Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) had a shot saved by Panther goalie Lorin Field (Hollis, N.H.). After that, PSU controlled the ball until sophomore Caitlin Swanson (Holderness, N.H.) worked her way into the crease scoring the game's first goal.

Swanson, who scored all three of her goals in the first half, netted her final goal of the contest with 12 seconds left in the first half to even the game at three apiece.

In the second half, the Owls did a better job of winning the draw controls, and turning the game into a fast paced contest. Senior Emily Persano (Somers, Conn.) took the opening draw control and scored for the Owls giving them a 4-3 lead.

Plymouth scored their lone goal of the second stanza, with 27:17 left in the game when freshman attacker MeKenna Bay (Maracaibo, Venezuela) scored on a free position shot to cut the lead to 5-4 KSC.

The Owls took control from there, scoring five unanswered goals and running away with a 10-5 victory. Persano netted her second goal of the contest, seniors Kirk and Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Maine) and sophomore Lauren Brown (Agawam, Mass.) netted her two in the second half to fuel the Owls attack.

Freshman netminder Erin Taylor (Brewster, N.Y.) allowed only four goals and made four saves for her sixth victory of the season, while field made 10 stops and allowed 10 goals for Plymouth in the losing effort.

The Owls outshot the Panthers 22-12 in the contest and won 10-of-16 draw controls, including a seven-to-two advantage in the second half.

KSC returns to action this Thursday, as they will travel to Colby Sawyer College for a non-conference make-up game scheduled to start at 4 p.m.