MANSFIELD, Conn. – Keene State College season scoring leader Jill Kirk's only goal of the match one minute into overtime gave the Owls their first Little East Conference playoff championship with a 9-8 victory over top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.

A loser of 14 of the previous 15 matches in this series, No. 2 seeded Keene ended Eastern's 23-game winning streak in conference decisions. Until this game, Eastern's last conference loss had come in the title game of the 2006 championship against Plymouth State, 9-5. Keene was making its second championship game appearance, having lost to Plymouth State in 2004.

Keene (12-7) qualifies for its first-ever NCAA tournament by gaining the automatic bid extended the LEC tournament champion. Eastern ends its season at 9-9. The win is the program-record eighth straight for Keene, which stopped the Warriors' four-game streak.

Tournament MVP Lauren Sawyer had forced overtime when she scored in fourth goal of the match with 5:24 left. One minute into the six-minute overtime, Sawyer set up Kirk with the go-ahead goal. The assist was the second of the match for Sawyer, the conference leader with 59. Three of Sawyer's goals came on free-position shots.

Keene goalie Jen Gearing made three saves in the final two minutes of overtime, two coming in the final minute. She stopped a free-positon shot by Eastern sophomore midfielder Ashley Del Vecchio (Fairfield) with 50 seconds left and preserved the win by making her 14th save of the game on an attempt by Eastern season goal-scoring leader junior Brooke Wayte (Bellport, NY) with two seconds left. Eastern freshman goalie Kristianna Ibsen (Shelton) made a save on a shot by Keene's Jamie Albert with two seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

Wayte, who scored five goals in a 16-0 semifinal win Thursday over UMass Dartmouth, managed only one goal on eight shots.

Eastern led 6-3 five minutes into the second half and 7-5 with 14 minutes left, but the Owls scored twice in a span of 19 seconds to tie the game Sawyer made it a one-goal game when she converted a free-position shot with 7:36 left, and Samantha Benson tied the game with an unassisted goal 19 seconds later.

Eastern had beaten Keene, 14-10, during the regular season. Keene's only previous win over Eastern had come in the finals of the 2004 ECAC Tournament, 17-16 in overtime.

2009-05-03