KEENE, N.H. - Behind Carly Benning's (Brewster, Mass.) 26th goal of the season in the first half, and Jacki Benson's (Hampstead, N.H.) two second-half goals, the Keene State College field hockey team battered the Framingham State College Rams 3-0 on Thursday night at Owl Athletic Complex. The win propels the Owls to 18-4 on the year as they advance to the Little East Conference tournament finals on Saturday.

With the shutout victory over the Rams, the Owls broke the school record for shutouts in a season with 12. Senior goaltender Vikki Stoessel's (Derry, N.H.) 10th shutout this season breaks Sara Joyce's record set in 2006.

The Owls avenged a loss to Framingham which ended their team shutout streak back on Sept. 19th. "It was nice to get the Rams back after they beat us 3-0 earlier in the year," said coach KSC head coach Amy Watson. "We didn't play well in the first meeting but tonight we had better chances and capitalized."

The Rams had the first chance to hit the scoreboard with just under ten minutes to play in the first half off a penalty corner when Framingham forwards Kristen Sacco (Mendon, Mass.) and Erica Fisher (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) each had shots turned away by Stoessel. Fisher took a rebound shot that sailed wide giving Keene State possession.

Benning would tally her 14th game-winner of the season at the 31:26 mark when Aislynn Sherry (Rehoboth, Mass.) led the senior into the circle to beat Rams goalie Allesha Kenyon (Westford, Mass.) for the 1-0 lead.

Framingham State would continue to fight back, as they would have two penalty corners in the last 10 seconds of the first half to try to even the score. With no time left on the clock Sacco's shot beat Stoessel but senior defender Erin Dallas (Marlow, N.H.) was there for her 11th defensive save of the season to keep the lead intact.

The second half was all Owls, as Benson netted her first of the game under ten minutes into the second half on a nice cross from Benning to put the Owls up 2-0.

At the 57:58 mark, Benson would net her second of the night off a pass from Dallas to give Keene State the 3-0 LEC semifinal victory.

Stoessel set aside eight shots for the shutout, while Kenyon stopped 11 shots for the Rams in the loss.

The Owls will play host on Saturday at noon against UMass.-Dartmouth at Owl Athletic Complex for the Little East Conference Championship and automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
"UMass-Dartmouth is a real strong team and our game with them last Saturday was a dog fight," said coach Watson. "We are going to have to work real hard to keep them out of our circle and not give them a lot of penalty corners if we want to be successful."