PORTLAND, Maine -- The Keene State College women's lacrosse team used a balanced offensive attack to defeat the University of Southern Maine 15-7 in a Little East Conference game Monday night at Memorial Field.

            The win was the fourth straight for the Owls, improved their record to 8-5 overall and 4-1 in LEC games.  The Huskies had their school record four-game winning streak stopped, and slide to 6-9 overall and 3-1 in league play.

            Seniors Jamie Albert (Southington, Conn.) and Lauren Sawyer (Westbrook, Maine) paced the Owls' offense with four points apiece.  Albert had three goals and on assist while Sawyer contributed two goals and two assists.  Senior Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) and sophomore Lauren Brown (Agawam, Mass.) each scored three goals, and junior Caitlyn Corace (Mahopac, N.Y.) chipped in two goals and an assist.  Freshman goalie Erin Taylor (Brewster, N.Y.) stopped 11 shots.  "I thought we were very patient on offense and did a good job forcing tournovers," said KSC Coach Katie Arsenault.  "They have a very good goalie and we did a nice job placing our shots."

            For USM, rookies Rosie Forster (Andover, Mass.) and Jackie Kelly (Brunswick, Maine), and junior Shelby Turcotte (Lewiston, Maine), scored two goals apiece.  Senior Mary Vaughan (Brunswick, Maine/Pomfret School) dished out two assists.  Sophomore goalie Samantha Kiesel (Lakeville, Mass./Kents Hill) had 12 saves.

            After Brown and Forster traded goals in the opening four minutes, the Owls would outscore the Huskies 6-1 over the remaining 26 minutes to take a 7-2 advantage into halftime.  Sawyer scored two goals and Brown one to open a 4-1 lead for the visitors before Forster scored her second goal of the night.

            Corace found the net twice off assists from Sawyer, and Kirk converted a free-position attempt 7:58 before halftime to make it 7-2.

            Kelly got the Huskies off on the right foot in the second half scoring just over a minute into the half.  The Owls responded by scoring the next four goals, including two by Kirk, to open an 11-3 lead.  After Kelly and sophomore Lauren Santo (Salem, N.H.) tallied goals for the Huskies, the Owls went on another four-goal run to up the margin to 15-5 with 3:13 left in the game.

            The Owls out shot the Huskies 42-26, and were successful clearing the ball 15 of 16 chances.

            Southern Maine hits the road on Wednesday (4:00 p.m.) to face Plymouth State University for an LEC game.  Keene State will play at Castleton State College on tomorrow night (7:00 p.m.).

(Courtesy USM Sports Information)