BOSTON, MASS. 10/19/13- The Keene State College men's soccer team scored two second half goals in the span of one minute 51 seconds to break a 1-1 tie and go on to defeat UMass-Boston 3-1 in a Little East Conference game played Saturday afternoon at Clark Athletic Center Field.

Despite struggling to get over the .500 mark overall, the Owls (5-9, 3-2 LEC) are still in contention to finish in the top four and earn a spot in the Little East tournament.  "That's our goal now, we can't bring the rest of the games back," said KSC Coach Ron Butcher. "I told the boys we have three silver bullets (LEC games) left.  Today we fired the first one and hit a bull's eye and we have two more to go." 

The win put the Owls in firm control of third place behind UMass Dartmouth and Eastern Connecticut State University.

The injury-riddled Owls got goals from unlikely players on Saturday.  Junior Michael Jacques (Tolland, Conn.) gave KSC a 1-0 lead at the 8:4 mark of the first half when he slid the ball past UMB sophomore goalie Alfonso Rosales (Revere, Mass.) with a nice one-on one move.  

A goal by the Beacon junior Rolando Barbosa (Fogo, Cape Verde) on a short from the top of the box sent both teams to the locker room tied.

Sophomore Matt Langford (East Longmeadow, Mass.) broke the tie with his first career goal at the 71:06 minute of the second half.  Following a corner kick and a collision in front of the goal, Langford was at the right place at the right time, knocking the rebound into the net.  "It was a good feeling.  It's about time I got one," said Langford.

Junior Yazid Eideh (Newburyport, Mass.) gave KSC a 2-1 lead with his first of his career goal less than a minute later, with a left-footed shot that bounced into the net. 

Junior Mike Ketterman (Monson, Mass.) finished the game with two saves.  Rosales started in goal for UMB and made eight saves.  Sophomore Camilo Florez played the final 15 minutes and stopped three shots.

Keene State held a 27-10 advantage in shots and an 8-1 advantage in corners.

The Owls return to action on Tuesday when they host Springfield College in a non-conference game at 6:30 p.m.