WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  Playing up front for the first time, first-year junior Carl Stensland (Storrs) scored on both of his shots of the game in the first 29 minutes and sophomore midfielder Zach Kice (Denver, CO) collected three assists as top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University shut out fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 4-0, Wednesday  afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field to move into the championship match of the Little East Conference men's soccer team for the third time in five years.

Sharing eighth place in this week's New England soccer rankings, Eastern (13-5-1) will host the tournament final Saturday at 1 p.m. at Nevers Field. The Warriors, who are 2-0 in championship game appearances – both being played on their home fields in 2007 and 2009 – will face No. 2 seed Keene State College, which eliminated No. 3 seed Rhode Island College, 3-2 in overtime, Wednesday night at Keene, NH.

Looking for additional composure up front, fifth-year  head coach Greg DeVito shifted Stensland to the front line in practice this week and the move paid immediate dividends.  A first-year Division I transfer, Stensland scored on his only two shots of the match. He finished off a scramble in front of the net to make it 1-0  in the12^th minute,  and his fourth goal of the year with 16 minutes left in the first half on a line drive shot from the middle of the box gave the hosts a 2-0 halftime lead.

 The game was a re-match of the 2009 LEC title game, won 1-0 by Eastern at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex and followed a 1-0 loss at the hands of UMass Dartmouth (11-7-1) three days ago on the final day of the regular season. Both the loss and the goal allowed in Saturday's match were the only ones given up by Eastern in seven regular-season conference matches.

Sophomore forward Mitch Power (Douglas, MA), who recorded a hat trick five weeks ago at Nevers Field, added the final two goals against UMass, both coming on  crosses from Kice and were the result of low shots just inside the post. Power has scored all  six of his goals this year at Nevers Field.

With three assists in the match, Kice shares the team lead with junior forward Cory Tobler (Portland), with six.

Senior keeper Carl Appel (West Windsor, NJ)  backstopped the Warriors to their 12^th shutout, extending the program season record in that department. The shutout was the eighth full one for Appel, whose only difficult save came in the second half when he leaped to tip a UMass drive off the crossbar.

A young team dominated by freshmen and sophomore, UMass had posted shutouts in its last two and in three of its last five outings. Several key players were missing from the Corsair lineup due to injury following Saturday's physically-played win over Eastern in a rainstorm Saturday at North Dartmouth, MA.

Eastern shut out Keene State at Nevers Field by a 3-0 score Oct. 8. In the 2007 tournament title game, Eastern defeated Keene State on penalty kicks at Nevers Field  to win its first-ever conference tournament title.  

Eastern and Keene have combined to win four of the last five titles, each winning twice. Keene won last year's championship, 1-0, over Rhode Island – its sixth conference crown – and blanked Plymouth State, 3-0, in 2006.   Eastern was the No. 1 seed when it defeated No. 2 seed Keene State in 2007 and was the No. 2 seed when it defeated No. 4 seed UMass Dartmouth in 2009. Keene was the top seed when it downed No. 3 seed Rhode Island College a year ago.