KEENE, N.H. 11/9/13 – Seniors Leddy Gallagher (Acton, Mass.) and Katelyn Simula (Bridgewater, N.H.) scored goals within a three minute span early in the second half and top seed Keene State College held on to defeat third seed and rival Plymouth State 2-1 to capture the Little East Conference Field Hockey Tournament at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday.

It's the ninth LEC title for the Owls (20-3), who have won two conference crowns in the past three seasons.  With the victory, Keene State earns the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The 20 wins ties the program record set in 2011.

"This group of seniors is a special," said KSC Coach Amy Watson.  "They had a taste of winning it their sophomore year and they wanted it again.  We had two goals this season: to go undefeated in the conference and win the tournament and they accomplished both."

"This literally means everything to us.  We wanted this so bad," said Gallagher, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player.  "I remember as a sophomore when we won it, but I didn't understand what a big deal it is. To end our senior year like this – I couldn't have pictured it any better."

The Owls had to work for their championship.  The two teams battled to a scoreless tie after the first half. KSC junior Melissa Habelow (Belmont, Mass.) had a chance to get  Keene State on the borad in the closing seconds of the half, but PSU senior Hilary Lemelin (Milan, N.H.) was up to the challenge, kicking away her shot as time expired on the clock

Watson said the Owls changed their game plan in the second half. "We hadn't seen Plymouth since early October and they play a completely different style than UMass-Dartmouth, who we faced in the semifinals," said Watson. "At the half, we made some adjustment and used our speed to our advantage and made some plays." 

 The Owls finally broke through at the 40:06 mark when Gallagher scored on a corner to give KSC a 1-0.  "Katelyn (Simula) had a great shot and I just followed up on the rebound," said Gallagher, who netted three goals in the Owls' last two games.  "We practice corners all the time and we finally scored one today." 

 Minutes later, Simula scored a key insurance goal that ended up being the game-winner.  "I saw that their goalie was down and I just flipped it over her,' said Simula.  "We stepped up our game in the second half and played KSC field hockey"

 KSC sophomore goalie Meaghan Dwyer (Rutland, Mass.) kept it a two goal game late in the half when she came out and denied Panther freshman Masha Lange (Danville, N.H.).

Keene State had several opportunities to get another goal and put the game away, but Lemelin was sharp in goal, coming up with several big saves to keep the Panthers in the game.  With just under three minutes to play she made consecutive saves on junior Marisa Lemoine (Berlin, N.H.) and freshman Kayla Renaud (Somers, Conn.).

The Panthers cut the Owls' lead to 2-1 when junior Nikki Garvey (Canaan, N.H.) scored an unassisted goal with just under three minutes to go, but Keene State was able to maintain possession after the face-off and hold on for the win.

Keene State outshot the Panthers 20-7 and had an 11-4 advantage in corners.

 Dwyer finished the game with four saves. Lemelin stopped eight shots for Plymouth State (13-6) which won consecutive LEC titles from 200-02.

It was the seventh time Plymouth Stat and Keene State have met in the LEC finals. The Owls have won six of those meetings.