KEENE, N.H. 10/31/12 - The third seeded Keene State College field hockey team rolled to a dominating 7-2 victory over six seed Salem State University in a quarterfinal game of the Little East Conference tournament at Owl Athletic Complex on Wednesday. Freshman Lyndsie Rabenius (North Hampton, N.H.) led the KSC attack with two goals and an assist.

The defending champion Owls (14-7) move on to the semifinal round on Saturday.  KSC will find out its opponent on Thursday when second seed Bridgewater State takes on seventh seed Southern Maine.  Salem State completes its season with a 9-9 record.

Keene State capitalized on two penalty corners, and a pair of loose balls in front of the net for its four first half goals.

The Owls got on the board at the 31:38 mark in the first half when junior Aimee Donaruma (Hampden, MA) was set up in front by Rabenius.

After the Vikings tied the game on an unassisted goal by sophomore Kelsey Russell (Arlington, Mass.), the Owls offense went back to work, tacking on three unanswered goals to end the first half.

Senior Alex Billert (Center Conway, NH) began the uprising with her 13th goal of the season on a corner play.  Rabenius made it 3-1 with her first goal of the game and freshman Bella Robinson (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) completed the first half scoring with her second goal of the season. 

"We had to change our mindset a little bit," said KSC Coach Amy Watson's about her teams' offensive explosion. "We just had to step it up and move to the ball better."

Sophomore Marisa Lemoine (Berlin, N.H.) continued the Owls scoring in the second half.  Rabenius followed with her second goal of the game to give her nine on the season, and junior Hannah Gage (Lebanon, N.H.) found the back of the net for KSC in the second half.

Senior Courtney Lynch (North Andover, Mass.) netted the Vikings second goal with just under five minutes to play.

Keene State outshot the Vikings 27-10 and had a slim 10-7 advantage in corners.  Watson used all three of her goalies in the game. Sophomore Caitlin Davino-Draper (Hanover, Mass.) started and finished with three saves.  Freshman Meaghan Dwyer (Rutland, Mass.) didn't record a save in her 10:30 between the pipes and freshman Chloe Audesse (Goffstown, N.H.) was summoned into the game to stop a penalty stroke and was successful.  

Junior Michaela Boyer (South Hadley, Mass.) stopped 12 shots for Salem State.

Keene State is shooting for its ninth LEC championship.