SPRINGFIELD, Mass. 9/12/12--The Western New England University men's soccer team came away with a hard-fought 1-0 non-conference victory over Keene State Wednesday afternoon at Suprenant Field. The win improves the Golden Bears' record to 2-3-1, while the loss for Keene State puts its record at 3-2.

The lone goal of the contest was scored by sophomore Chad Barrett in the 25th minute on a corner kick. Ryan Williams took a short corner to Shawn DaCruz, who gave a pass back to Williams, who curled a beautiful right-footed ball to Barrett who headed home his first goal of the season from about 10-yards out.

Senior Joe Senecal (Manchaug, Mass.) had the best scoring chance for KSC in the early going in alone, but missing a point-blank bid. "That would've made a big difference in the game if he scored," said KSC Coach Ron Butcher.

Western New England was able to create several scoring opportunities with its seven corner kicks, including the goal by Barrett. Keene State, on the other hand, did not take a single corner kick in the game.

The Golden Bears played tough defense, holding the Owls without a true scoring opportunity again until the 75th minute, when a Keene State freshman Eric Dietz  (Woodlands, Conn.)  headed the ball over the cross bar with an open net in front of him.

The Owls were limited up front with both juniors Scott Douglas (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Bryce Lawlor (Woodlands, Conn.) sitting out most of the game.  "Despite the loss, we couldn't have played much better," said Butcher.  It was a game we could've won, but we didn't have any scoring up front.  Hopefully, this game will prepare us for our conference schedule." 

Keene State had seven shots on goal compared to the Golden Bears' five, but Western New England outshot the Owls 16-12 overall. Senior goalkeeper Nick Starr recorded his second shutout of the season and the third of his career.  Junior Malcolm Cheney (Hopkinton, Mass.) finished the game with four saves for the Owls.

Keene State returns home to face UMass Boston in its first Little East game of the season on Saturday (1 p.m.).