Keene State 1, Worcester State 0
Worcester, MA --- Keene State sophomore Sia Karmourtopoulous (Freemont, NH) notched the game-winning goal in the 37th minute to help lift the Owls to a 1-0 victory this evening over Worcester State in non conference women's soccer action at Coughlin Stadium.
KSC, ranked ninth in New England in the latest NSCAA poll handed the Lancers their first shutout of the season.
WSC (5-4) opened the game as the aggressor as they held a 3-1 shot advantage in the contests first 20 minutes, but after much back and forth action in the next 10 minutes, Keene State rattled off a couple of shots to keep things even.
The Owls (8-2) finally found the back of the net when senior Katie Bradford (W. Lebanon, NH) made a good bid with a high kick on keeper Rachel Armenti (W. Boylston, MA) and just when Armenti was about to make a play on the ball in the air Karmoutopoulous came out of nowhere to head it in for her fifth marker of the season.
After Keene State came out onto the field for the second half they applied a good amount of pressure on offense throughout much of the period. Following a shot on goal by WSC sophomore Danielle Clifford (Attleboro, MA) to open up the stanza, the Owls made five consecutive attempts at Worcester State's net, but Armenti held firm and rejected each shot.
KSC's best chance to put another score on the board came in the 75th minute when Bradford took advantage of an open net with a shot that entered the mouth of the net, but senior Stephanie Demake (Auburn, MA) was right there to put just enough zip on the ball to knock it out of bounds.
Worcester State made two good attempts to try and equalize the score in the waning minutes of the game, but sophomore goalie Meghan Dempsey (Weymouth, MA) made stops on both opportunities.
Keene State ended with a 13-7 shot advantage (10-5 on goal) which included a 7-3 edge in the final period while the Lancers led in corners, 4-3. The game was also a physical one as both teams combined for 32 fouls.
Armenti registered nine saves while Dempsey tallied five stops for the visitors.
Both teams have conference opponents on Saturday. Worcester State travels to Framingham State for a 2 PM game while Keene entertains Rhode Island College at 1:30.