NORTON, Mass.  10/24/12 – Senior Brittany Croteau's (Swanzey, N.H.) goal midway in the second half enabled the Keene State College women's soccer to tie nationally ranked Wheaton College 1-1 in a non-conference game played at Mirrone Stadium in Norton, Mass. on Wednesday. 

Picking up their first tie of the fall, the Owls are now 11-7-1.The Lyons, who are ranked 16th in the country and tied for third in New England by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), move to 14-1-4 on the season. 

Keene State Coach Denise Lyons was pleased with her teams' performance against the nationally ranked Lyons.  "I told the girls on paper they're better than you, but today is anyone's game.  Just get out there and upset a team you're not supposed to beat.  They went out there and played hard for 90 minutes."

Wheaton capitalized on its first shot of the game 11:46 into play, when sophomore Lauren Corigliano (Roselle Park, N.J.) was the recipient of a pair of one-touch passes from senior Casey Muse (Candia, N.H.) and freshman Julia Cipriano (Middlebury, Conn.).  Corigliano deposited her team-leading 11th goal of the fall into the lower right corner of the net.

The Lyons' lead held until midway through the second half, as Croteau collected a loose ball in the middle of the field and sent her 30-yard shot over the outstretched reach of Wheaton freshman goalie Taylor Wilson (Bellingham, Mass.) at 65:59. "It was one of the nicest goals I ever seen," said Lyons.  "It was a rocket that went sailing over the keeper's head."

Wheaton had a flurry of shots during a 2:08 span of the frame, but two were saved, one was blocked and the other carried wide of the goal frame.  Neither team managed a shot in the final seven minutes of the second half.

Wheaton started the first extra session with a corner kick and two shots, but Corigliano's attempt sailed high and Muse's attempt was saved by sophomore Torrie Crenson (North Salem, N.Y.)  Keene State took the period's final two shots but to no avail, as one was blocked and another went high.

The Owls had a 3-0 edge in shots in the second overtime, including firing a last-gasp attempt into a Wheaton wall on a restart with 34 seconds to play.

Wilson finished with five stops for the Lyons, while Crenson had seven saves for the Owls.

The Lyons held a 20-16 edge in shots, and Keene State took three of the game's five corner kicks.

Keene State concludes its regular season this Saturday, hosting Western Conn. State in a key Little East Conference game at 1:30 p.m.

 (Portions of the story, courtesy Wheaton College Sports Information)