WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Seven years ago, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer program began its run of five Little East Conference playoff titles in seven years under first-year head coach Greg DeVito by defeating Keene State College on penalty kicks at Thomas Nevers Field.

Photo by Liam Murphy

Wednesday, under first-year head coach Rick Scott, third-seeded Keene gained its revenge with a 1-0 semifinal-round victory over the second-seeded Warriors at Nevers Field. The victory moved Keene (12-6-1) into its tenth final since 1999 and ended Eastern's (9-6-4) record run of three straight championships.

After defeating the Owls for the first time in 45 years on Keene's home field five weeks ago, Eastern could not complete a season sweep of the Owls, who snapped a five-game (0-4-1) winless streak against the Warriors. Since losing to Eastern Sept. 27, Keene is now 9-1-1 and brings a four-game winning streak into Saturday's final at No. 1 seed University of Massachusetts Boston.

The visitors dominated the first half with a 7-0 advantage in shots and finally broke through three minutes into the second half when senior midfielder Kaleb Lique-Naitova hammered a low shot from the left of the box inside the left post on a baseline feed from freshman forward Promise Kpee. The final 1-0 decision tenth of the year for Eastern, which ended up on the losing end for the sixth time. The victory also stopped a run of three straight shutout losses for Keene at the hands of the Warriors on their home field.

Keene broke through against Eastern sophomore keeper Greg Walton (Brunswick, ME) just moments after the Warriors managed their first shot, a high drive by freshman forward Xavier Doran (Hebron) which followed a corner kick. Kpee made a run on the end line and centered it in the box to Lique-Naitova, who drilled a quick, hard shot past Walton for his third goal of the season.

 Senior keeper Mike Ketterman needed only one save to record his fifth shutout in 12 starts, that coming on a bid by junior Aldo Morin (West Hartford) with 23 minutes left.

The Owls had the better of play throughout, sending three shots on goal in a span of five minutes early in the match that required Walton to submit his three first-half saves. Sophomore midfielder Conor Leahy's header ten minutes into play at the right post gave Keene an early opportunity, Kpee turned and fired a shot from the middle of the box that Walton smothered two minutes later, and freshman midfielder Riley Steele unloaded a bomb from the right side that Walton handled at the right post.  

The contest was between two young teams which combined for 31 freshmen and sophomores on their rosters.

UMass Boston moved into its first final by eliminating Rhode Island College with the only goal of the match with less than three minutes remaining to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Anchormen four days earlier. Keene has won six championships, most recently in 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Rhode Island College.