Box Score KEENE, N.H.— In a key week which included matches against three of its biggest rivals, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer team won its third straight 1-0 decision when All-New England Region sophomore forward Emily Becher (Brooklyn) scored her sixth game-winning goal of the year in a Little East Conference victory over 2014 conference playoff champion Keene State College Saturday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.
Becher's goal in the 24th minute gives Eastern (7-2-1, 3-0-0 LEC) three 1-0 victories in the span of eight days and keeps it as a co-leader in the conference with the University of Massachusetts Boston, which was outshot 19-9 by visiting University of Massachusetts Dartmouth but scored the only goal of the match in the seventh minute Saturday.
Now 5-0 on the road this year, Eastern defeated pre-season favorite and 2014 LEC regular-season champion Western Connecticut State University on the road last Saturday night, then shut out Connecticut College – an NCAA qualifier last year – at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex Tuesday night. The Warriors have won five of six overall.
Until Saturday, Eastern had not beaten Keene (5-3-1, 2-1-0 LEC) on the Owls' home field in the last four tries (0-3-1) – since winning the 2009 LEC championship match over the top-seeded Owls, 1-0.
Playing its sixth home match this year, Keene had a four-game winning streak ended, the team having won two previous LEC matches by a combined score of 11-2.
Despite being outshot 14-5 and being out-cornered, 6-3, the Warriors got the only goal of the game when Becher corralled a loose ball and beat Keene junior keeper Dani Warhall to the far post. The game-winning goal was the sixth this year and 13th in 30 career matches. Against Keene, she scored the only goal of the match for the fourth time this year.
After Becher's go-ahead goal, the Owls came back with a near immediate response, but freshman Patricia Norton's shot was straight at Eastern keeper Rachel Skelton (East Lyme), who made five saves to record her sixth shutout in ten starts this year and drop her goals-against average under 1.00 to 0.92.
Trailing at halftime, Keene increased the pressure in the second half. Junior Brittany Tolla was streaking in on goal, but Skelton came out to deny the shot in the 60th minute. Two minutes later, Tolla had Skelton beat with a shot from eight yards out, but an Eastern defender cleared the ball off the line to preserve the lead.
Freshman Tyrah Urie's effort in the 80th minute met the intersection of post and crossbar as Keene was again denied the equalizer.
Since losing by a 1-0 score at Keene in the 2013 LEC final, Eastern has shut out the Owls the last two times the teams have met. Last year at home, the Warriors won, 3-0.
Eastern travels to Endicott College Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a non-conference match.
