KEENE, N.H 11/7/13- The second seeded Keene State College women's  soccer team exploded for five unanswered goals in the second half en route to a 5-0 shutout victory over third seed UMass-Dartmouth in a Little East Conference tournament semifinal game played at Owl Athletic Complex on Thursday night.

Winners of five straight games, Keene State (16-4-1) advances to the tournament finals on Saturday (1 p.m.) where they will host fifth seed Eastern Conn.  Earlier in the day, ECSU upset defending champ UMass-Boston 1-0 to earn a spot in the championship game.  The Owls and the Warriors (10-8-1) have met five times in the finals with Eastern Conn. winning four times, including 2003 and 2011 when the game was decided on penalty kicks.    The Owls lone victory (3-0) came in 2004.

With UMB being upset, Keene State entered the game knowing that a win would give them home field for the finals.  But they still had to take care of business on the field.  "I was watching the live stats of the UMass-Boston game and I when I saw the final score I jumped out of my seat in class," said senior Kelsie Bailey (Barre, Vt.). "We knew we could have home field advantage for the championship game, but we still had to win tonight."

KSC had a chance to get on board in the opening minutes of play.  Senior Kara Pavlidis (Lee, N.H.) broke in alone, but Corsair senior goalie Michelle Miller (Westford, Mass.) came out and robbed her, getting a foot on her shot.

UMD answered with a bid of its own a few minutes later.  Junior Maura Gonsalves (Dartmouth, Mass.) sent the ball toward the net and Owl junior Torrie Crenson (North Salem, N.Y.) went up and tipped it over the crossbar.

Keene State finally broke through two minutes into the second half.  Sophomore Jennifer Wilson (Plymouth, Mass.) tracked down the ball on the right side and fed a lead pass to senior Jessica Berthiaume (Worcester, Mass.).  Berthiaume crossed the ball to Pavlidis, who didn't miss, putting the ball in the top corner of the net. "I definitely had to redeem myself," said Pavlidis. "It was the first goal and it set the tone for the rest of the game. It set a fire underneath us."

The Owls added to its lead at the 34:16 mark.  Senior Kristen Huckins (Westmoreland, N.H.) sent a well-placed through to classmate Hayley Kenyon (Exeter, R.I.).  After taking a couple of dribbles, Kenyon buried the ball into the corner to put the Owls up 2-0. "It's great having 'Huck' back in our line-up, she's our core in the middle and she gave me a great ball and I'm glad I put it home," said Kenyon about her sixth goal of the season.

Keene State dodged a bullet with 30 minutes to go in the half.  Crenson came out and appeared to handle short shot by UMD junior Shelby Friedland (New Bedford, Mass.), but the ball got loose. Friedland attempted another shot and Wilson got a foot of the ball to keep UMD off the board. "I knew there was a chance Torrie might lose control of the ball, so I just filled in behind and I was able to save it," said Wilson.  "It was a great feeling."

Keene State's defense limited the Corsairs to four shots on goal.   "Our goal was to try and shut them down, so they'd get discouraged and can't score," said Bailey.  "We did our work, so we can get the ball up and let out midfielders and forward do their job."  

The Owls extended their lead four minutes later.  Miller made the initial save, but Boscarino scored on the rebound for her seventh goal of the season to make it 3-0.  Miller kept it a three goal game later in the half when she denied KSC freshman Brittany Tolla (Sandy Hook, Coon.) broke in alone.

After senior Jillian Van Ness (Agawam, Mass.) was taken down in the box, UMD was awarded a penalty kick.  Senior Tori Pierce (Tiverton, R.I.) took the shot, but Crenson held her ground with a  save. "PKs are really tricky to read,' said Crenson, who finished the game with three saves for her seventh shutout of the season.  "I was leaning toward the right and I saw the ball going down the middle, so I just dropped and hoped for the best."

Junior Alex Haley (Laconia, N.H.) and Tolla added insurance goals later in the half.  Haley chipped the ball over Miller to make it 4-0 and Tolla scored on a breakaway.

Keene State outshot UMD 28-10 and had a 9-4 advantage in corners.

Miller finished the game with 11 saves for the Corsairs (12-8-1).